Spacial Rend
by Joey Taylor
Summary: Left on the doostep of the King of Games after attempting to stop Palkia, a Trainer is left looking for her way home. Meanwhile Yugi has his own problems, a new threat has appeared on the horizon and he's not beyond attacking Yugi's friends to get to Yugi
1. Flying High

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by ****Kazuki Takahashi, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, I however, do not own either, if I did, I wouldn't be worried about money for University.**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Jamie was soaring through the sky on the back of her Charizard but for once her mind wasn't on the joy she normally felt while flying.

Scanning the crowds that filled the town below her, her mind was on her friends and the danger they were in.

Three months ago she'd been fresh off her victory at the Sinnoh League Conference and teaching two days a week at the Pokemon Academy, while doing workshops for novice Trainers another three. She'd been wishing for something to take her away from the monotony, but had had to stay as it had been her duty as League Winner.

She'd been two weeks from her Championship Challenge, with a run at the Elite Four of Sinnoh and it's current Champion, Cynthia, when her lesson had been interrupted by a visit from Will.

Team Galactic were going up Mt Coronet to try to summon Palkia and capture the Legendary Pokemon.

As League Winner and potential Champion, it was her duty to help the Elite Four stop them.

So up she'd gone, following Cynthia and beating the Elite Four to the top.

They'd been too late, Palkia was halfway through the portal when they arrived.

She'd been half a second behind the League Champion in sending out her Pokemon, her Glaceon, Aisu and had used the Ice Type's Blizzard to freeze her opponents and push her way through to where Cyrus, Team Galactic's leader, was trying to battle Palkia.

She shuddered briefly with the memory of Palkia's attack hitting her, enveloping her in a spacial rift that had nearly ripped her to pieces, it had hurt so much that she'd passed out.

"Izard!"

"What is it Iblis?"

"Zard!"

Jamie looked down over her Charizard's shoulder. Three people were running from a group of six dots. Jamie trusted Charizard to be able to see exactly who and what was chasing the three and growled, "Go!"

Iblis swooped down, flying low enough overhead that his slipstream knocked the hooded creeps backwards and pushed the three running away, forwards.

They landed as the three turned around. A male with brown hair that was shaped into a point, a girl with long brown hair and bandages over her eyes and a black haired male with a bandana keeping his hair in check, stared at her, then the brunette male grinned, "Jamie?"

The Trainer in question dismounted, gave the three a quick grin, and turned to the creeps, giving them her best death glare. "Hi guys. I can handle this."

"Where's Tea and Yugi?"

"I don't know, Tristan. Yugi got Kaiba to track Joey, but I was midair, searching for you lot, before I could hear where he and Tea are."

"Step aside, we're not afraid of any holograms."

Jamie snorted, "Marik obviously didn't tell you about me. Iblis is no hologram."

"Jamie?" Serenity's voice sounded uncertain.

"It's me, don't worry about your brother, Yugi'll find him."

That last sentence, said with such confidence, surprised her. Three months ago she hadn't had anyone she trusted with that much certainty besides her Pokemon. Then the Spacial Rend had left her on the doorstep of one Yugi Muto, King of Games, and she'd learnt how to trust other humans without any qualms.

"Trust me, he'll be fine." Jamie looked over her shoulder at the two boys, "Get her out of here."

The black haired male ran for it, taking Serenity with him.

"Now," Jamie turned and glared at the goons, "Where are my friends?"

"As if we'd tell you. I told you, we're not afraid of holograms." The leader of the little group said, standing up.

"Flamethrower."

It was a deliberate narrow miss, startling the Rare Hunters with it's heat and ferocity.

"Tell me where my friends are and I'll get Iblis to eat you."

"Uhhh, Jamie? Don't you mean or 'I'll get Iblis to eat you'?" Tristan asked.

"Depends how fast they tell me."

"We're not telling you anything." The leader was backing away as his goons turned to flee.

"Tsunami, stop them!" Jamie threw a Pokeball over the heads of the Rare Hunters and her Gyarados appeared in a flash of light, towering over the goons, who bumped into it and bounced backwards.

"I told you, not holograms."

"Jamie?"

"Shush Tristan, I know what I'm doing." She gave him a quick smile before putting her death glare on again and turning back to the Rare Hunters. "Now, where are my friends?"

Silence.

"Tsunami, Ice Beam!"

The huge Water/Flying type fired the beam at the ground, turning it into an ice skating rink and freezing the Rare Hunters to the floor.

"Iblis, lunch ti…"

"Wait!" The Leader snapped, "They're at the docks. Master Marik has something planned."

"See, that wasn't so hard." Jamie smirked, "Hey Tristan, think they'd make a good snack for the boys?"

"Nah, they'd give Iblis and Tsunami food poisoning."

"You're right, let's go." Jamie returned Tsunami to his Pokeball and turned to mount Iblis.

"Pokemon Trainer."

Tristan froze and glared at the leader, noting the glowing symbol on his forehead. "Jamie…"

She turned around, hearing the echo in the voice, thinking quickly. "You're him, aren't you? The one behind all of this?"

"That is correct. I am Marik."

"Why are you attacking my friends?"

"The Pharaoh has something that belongs to me and I won't rest until I have it."

"You mean Yugi? Yugi's no Pharaoh, at least not as I understand the…" She paused because Marik was laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You mean he hasn't told you yet?" Marik found something hilarious, "He uses you and your Pokemon for his own cause, but doesn't trust you with a secret that he's already shared with the rest of his friends!"

The Trainer growled.

"You deserve much better then that, Pokemon Trainer."

"I have a name Marik."

"I haven't had a chance to introduce myself before," The man was still laughing, "And the Pharaoh hasn't bothered to mention you."

"Then maybe I should introduce myself." Jamie growled, "Tristan, go to Yugi and Joey."

"But…"

"I have Iblis and Tsunami, go."

Tristan nodded and ran off.

"Well Pokemon Trainer?"

She waited until Tristan had gone, then turned back to the mind controlled goon, "I am Jamelia Francis of Littleroot Town, winner of the Sinnoh League and Aspiring League Champion. My friends call me Jamie."

"A pleasure." Marik sounded like he was smirking and it irritated Jamie no end.

"Niceties aside, I'm going to help my friends." Jamie said, mounting Iblis, "They will stop you."

"I can get you home."

Iblis roared as Jamie tensed up. "You lie."

"Oh I still have a few things to work out, but with the power of the Pharaoh, I should be able to send you home."

"Not interested." Jamie took off, returning Tusnami to his Pokeball before she was too high up and closing her eyes for a second and taking a deep breath. Marik knew one of her weaknesses, she wanted to go home more then anything but… she couldn't let Marik hurt Yugi, she couldn't.

"Izard!"

"Iblis?"

A car was moving at a ridiculously fast pace towards the docks.

"Follow it."

Iblis swooped towards the docks and Jamie let her mind wander, they'd get there in time, they just had too…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Joey was used to strange things happening, so when a bright light shone through the shop window as they were trying to lock up late one night, his first reaction was to get Yugi.

The short young man swapped quickly with the spirit who he shared his body with and was much more skilled in magic then Yugi was, before opening the door carefully.

On the doorstep was a young woman and a blue canine thing that gave Yugi a rather odd look.

"How did you get here?" Yami asked the canine as he knelt down by the girl's side. "Can you hear me?" He asked, shaking her gently.

The icy blue canine growled and nudged the girl, before trying to lick her face through the icy blue hair that draped over the steps.

"Let me Yuge." Joey knelt down, checking the girl over with the skills he'd picked up while a member of Hirutani's gang. "She's fine, just unconscious."

"Bring her inside." Yami looked back over his shoulder at Solomon Muto, Yugi's Grandpa, who had spoken with a concerned but wary look on his face.

"Are you sure?" Joey asked.

"Inside, now."

The canine slipped inside the door as Joey picked up the girl and took her upstairs to where Tea and Tristan were already cooking tea.

Solomon had finished eating and was just checking their guest over again when she'd woken up, giving out a startled yell and nearly bolting off the sofa, only stopped by the blue canine sat on her chest, who happily barked, "Glaceon!" and tilted it's head to look at it's owner.

"Easy miss." Solomon said, "We found you on our doorstep."

"This isn't Mount Coronet… where am I?" The girl asked, wide sapphire eyes taking in the group in the doorway, who'd come in when she'd yelled.

"This is the Kame Game Shop, Domino, Japan."

"Where?" Sapphire eyes gained fear and panic.

"Which part?" Solomon asked gently.

"All of it! Where am I?"

"The Kame Game Shop, Domino, Japan."

She shook her head. "It can't be, there's nowhere in the world called Japan!"

Solomon looked at Yugi, who stepped forward, wondering if this was someone from the past, or with amnesia, or one of many other reasons for not knowing Japan. "I'm Muto Solomon, this is my grandson, Muto Yugi, who are you?"

The girl paused before answering, "Francis Jamelia of Littleroot Town."

"Where's that?"

"The Sinnoh Region."

"Where?"

She groaned and held her head in her hands, "This is a nightmare, I'll wake up and I'll be back on Mt Coronet."

"Francis, where are you from, can you get back?" Yugi asked, patting the icy blue thing on the head.

"Call me Jamelia please. I'm from the Pokemon World." She used a word that Yugi had never heard before, "And I don't know."

"Pokemon?" Joey questioned.

"Like my Glaceon." She pointed to the blue thing which bowed to Yugi and repeated the word.

"Glaceon?"

"Try this." The girl pulled out a red, white and black thing and pressed a few buttons before tossing it to Joey, "Point it at Aisu." She pointed to the 'Pokemon'.

"Glaceon, the Ice evolution of Eevee, this Pokemon can completely freeze it's fur to make it's hairs stand like needles as a self defence measure." Joey looked intrigued and started pressing other buttons, making it start talking again, "I am Dexter, a Pokedex programmed for Pokemon Trainer Jamelia Francis, to help her and give her advice on Pokemon on her travels. This Pokedex counts as a Trainer's License "

"Pokemon Trainer?"

She nodded. "I have six Pokemon on me."

"How did you get here?"

"I'm an Aspiring Champion." She explained, then saw their confused looks. "It means that I recently won a League Conference and am awaiting my Championship Challenge."

Again confused looks, then Yugi's eyes lit up, clicking his fingers, "You're a skilled Pokemon Trainer, right?"

"I suppose." Jamelia shrugged, wondering if the teen was getting the wrong end of the stick, and thinking about all the work that had gone into getting that skilled.

"So how does that get you here?"

"I got hit by Palkia's Spacial Rend."

"Palkia?"

"Spacial Rend?"

Jamelia sighed, petting the Pokemon on the head before speaking, "Palkia, the Lord of Space and Guardian of Alternate Dimensions, which is what I'm guessing this world is."_ If it's not a dream. _"It's Spacial Rend attack can rip a hole in the dimensional wall and create portals to other worlds." _And thank you Cynthia for that explanation._

"Ah."

Ah didn't sum it up in Jamelia's mind, but she was still in shock.

"Jamelia?" Solomon asked softly, "Do you have anywhere to go?"

She shook her head, still hoping that if she went to sleep, she'd wake up somewhere sane.

Solomon looked at Yugi and Joey. Joey nodded, sighing and gesturing towards the sofa, while Yugi found himself in a staring contest with the 'Glaceon'.

"We have a spare room, if you want to stay there."

"Thank you. I'm hoping I'll be able to get home soon, but the hospitality is welcome."

Solomon smiled slightly at her politeness. "Yugi, will you show her to her room?"

Glaceon blinked and licked Yugi's hand, who smiled, patted the Pokemon on the head and nodded.

"Jamelia?" Yugi asked as the girl didn't move.

"Coming." The girl got up and followed Yugi into the spare room. "Muto… can I ask you a favour?"

"Call me Yugi and yes, you can."

"Once I'm settled in, can you give me a hand checking on my Pokemon, some of them aren't exactly small…"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Author Note: - And I completely blame Mark for this plot bunny and the storylines following this. And yes, there are at least two stories to this plot bunny already.

**Disclaimer - I don't own Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did I would be a lot richer then I am. I do however own Jamie and her Pokemon (Aisu, Tsunami and Iblis, plus the others when they appear), those are mine. **


	2. Intros To Everything

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by ****Kazuki Takahashi, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, I however, do not own either, if I did, I wouldn't be worried about money for University.**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Is this alright Tsunami?"

The huge Water/Flying type serpent roared and dove into the ocean, splashing them with icy cold sea water.

"And stay safe!" She shouted after it.

"Wow." Joey watched the dragon like Pokemon surface again and whispered reverently.

"You weren't joking when you said some of them were big, were you?" Yugi said, wondering about Tsunami's resemblance to the River Gods.

"Nope, Gaia's not exactly small either."

"That tree turtle?"

"She's a Torterra." Jamelia sighed.

"Torterra." Joey repeated, memorizing it.

"And Tsunami's a Gyarados, right?" Tea asked.

"That's right." The Trainer nodded. "So what do you think of my partners?"

"I want a Charizard," Joey grinned, "And a Gyarados."

That reaction made Jamelia grin, "That was my reaction when I saw Cynthia's Garchomp for the first time." She shook her head, amused, "I never did catch that Gible."

"What's a Gible and what does it have to do with a Garchomp?"

Jamelia giggled, "A Gible is a little blue Dragon/Ground type Pokemon about this tall," She measured off the ground with her hand, "and which evolves into a Garcomp."

There were confused looks all round.

"Pokemon evolve, or a lot of them do, from a small, young Pokemon to something like Aisu or Tsunami. My Gyarados was a Magikarp once, a small, red fish."

"That's impossible."

"I would have thought you would have known better then to toss that word around, Tristan." Tea scowled at him.

Jamelia snorted, "I'm not lying, Aisu wasn't always icy blue with those ears either, she used to be an Eevee, half Aisu's size and brown and white."

"So you train these 'baby' Pokemon and they become stronger and change form?"

"That's right, Pokemon Researchers call fist forms 'Basic Pokemon'. Some Pokemon choose to not to evolve because of pride. They believe that they can and should be able to beat anything and everything, at any level."

"I know some Duellists like that." Tristan said, before getting clobbered by Joey.

This of course would have led to a brawl had Jamelia not pulled out a strange golden whistle and blown it, getting Tsunami to surface and spray them with water again. "You could hear me alright?" The Aspiring Champion asked her Pokemon, ignoring the growls from the now rather soggy teens.

The Gyarados nodded.

"Good. I'll need you to respond urgently when I call, but other then that, don't get caught, don't eat too many fish and you can stay around here if you promise to be careful."

Tsunami leant down, let his Trainer at him on the head and dived again, this time vanishing under the waves.

"A little warning next time." Joey complained.

"Sorry."

"She's not sorry at all." Tristan said, noting the small smile on her face.

"Nope, I just hope he behaves himself."

"Anyone else we need to settle?" Yugi asked to forestall any ranting from his Best Friend.

Jameila looked thoughtful, "Tsunami's in the ocean, Gaia's hiding in the park, Denkou and Iblis are sleeping in the house, I still don't know if leaving Iblis out of his Pokeball is a good idea, but he should be safe in the garden under that metal roof we put up, Shade's going to play at being a Guard dog at night for the shop and going to sleep in the living room during the day and Aisu…"

"Iblis should be alright outside at the moment because it's summer, plus he's a Fire type, right?" Yugi asked and received a nod in return, "Gaia should be alright as not many people go into that part of the woods in the park, Denkou is a Electric type, so as long as he doesn't shock anything he should be fine in the house and you said that even though she's an ice type, Aisu can sleep anywhere, right?"

There was a nod as they headed back to the shop, the stars were out in full force now, and it was just three hours from when Jamelia had first arrived. "Yes, but she will need to visit somewhere cold now and again, to maintain the right levels of cold and stop her getting sick. Water types have to go to big bodies of water sometimes too."

"What about the other types?" Joey asked.

"Dark types are normally nocturnal, Ghosts like scary places and pulling pranks, Fire types love to sunbathe of brilliantly clear days, Electric types attract thunder and lightening storms and love to play in them, Psychic types don't need much, but they do play with minds if you're not careful with them. Bugs like forests, Dragons like mountains, Fighting types seek strong opponents, Flyers spend more time in the air then roosting, Rock and Ground types like caves, Steel types prefer industrial areas, Poison types like both steel and ground hangout and are as bad as the Ghosts for sneak attacking people and Normal types are good just about anywhere."

"That's a long list."

"Yeap." Jamelia looked at them, "So what was that earlier with those rivals of Yugi's. What's this 'Duel Monsters' about?"

Joey looked shocked.

"You mean you don't have Duel Monsters where you come from?"

"We have Pokemon." Jamelia glared at him, hand going to her belt which now only had one full Pokeball on it, "We don't have much time for card games if we're travelling."

"Don't you have friends who come with you?"

"I travel with my Pokemon, that's it."

"That must be lonely."

"No." Jamelia's denial didn't quite ring true though.

"I'm just glad all the Duelling Arenas are closed for the night," Yugi sighed, "As it is, I'll have to play them tomorrow."

"Your opponents called you the King of Games, right?" Jamelia asked, "How did you win that title?"

Joey and Tristan looked at each other, while Tea bit her lip ad Yugi sighed, "Can I fill you in at home? You're trusting us with your Pokemon, I can give you the same courtesy with my secrets."

Yugi was quiet the rest of the way home, with a look on his face that she couldn't quite read. She wondered what exactly she was getting into, but then 'getting into' wasn't true, she was already into this, head first, with no other options. Who else would accept her into their home and help her like this with her Pokemon?

They waited until Shade was settled in downstairs, faking sleep by the door that led to the stairs, and Iblis had been fed, before settling into the living room, with Solomon popping out to buy some more food, since they'd be feeding more then usual.

"Grandpa doesn't know everything yet." Yugi sighed, "But…"

Jamelia tilted her head, "What?"

"To gain the title of King of Games, I fought and defeated the creator of Duel Monsters, the card game that those Duellists challenged me to earlier."

"Wow." The Trainer was suitably impressed,

"Don't be too impressed before I give you all the details." Yugi warned, "And some of this is going to sound crazy and you probably won't believe any of it."

"Crazier then going up a mountain to protect a legendary Pokemon, getting sent to another dimension where there are no Pokemon, and having to hide your Pokemon to avoid suspicion from other people?"

Joey snorted at her point.

Yugi held up his golden pendant. "This is called the Millennium Puzzle." He said, taking a deep breath, "It's got ties to some really powerful ancient magic and Pegasus was after it. He came after me and I beat him but Pegasus wasn't above hurting people to get what he wanted."

"The Dark Teams are like that, Rocket, Aqua, Magma and Galactic, they like to get their own way, it was Team Galactic I was fighting when I was sent here." She looked at Yugi, "Can you access any of the ancient magic?"

"A bit." Yugi admitted, "I'm still getting there with it."

"How did you get your hands on the Millennium Puzzle?"

"My Grandpa found it." Yugi said, "He's an Archaeologist. Uhhh, do you know what an Archaeologist is?"

"We have Researchers who specialise in Ancient Studies. They dig up things."

"That's pretty much what an Archaeologist does." Yugi nodded, glad for cross world similarities. "He found the box containing the puzzle pieces and I assembled it."

"And was introduced to the crazy." Jamelia accepted, "Ok, if we're sharing crazy secrets, I have one for you to even the balance."

"Isn't being a Pokemon Trainer crazy enough for you?"

"You forget, that's normal for my world."

"Ok, crazy story sharing time."

Jamelia grinned. "Well, about halfway through my journey though the Johto Region I had a run in with Team Rocket. They were building this facility just outside Goldenrod City and poisoning the local lake. I was trying to catch a Magikarp at the time and got involved in trying to stop them."

"You won obviously."

Jamelia's look told them there was more to it then that.

"During the fighting I freed the North Wind Pokemon, Suicune and it purified the lake. Later on I was caught in the last explosion in their control room at the lakeside and was knocked into the lake. I don't remember much, but Suicune saved my life." Jamelia closed her eyes, "I was Chosen from then on, Suicune gave me the gift of Water's Trust. I can breathe underwater, temporarily, I haven't tested it for longer then an hour yet and I wasn't having any problems. That and I'm a stronger swimmer for it."

"So, Yugi has ancient magical powers and you're the 'Chosen' of a Legendary Pokemon. I kind of feel left out." Joey joked.

"I'm sure you have some sort of powers." Tristan said, straight-faced, "I'm sure you couldn't be half as annoying as you are without them."

Jamelia winced as a wrestling match started, rolling onto Denkou's tail, who used Thunderbolt on the two of them, and jumped onto it's Trainer's lap.

"Owwww." The teen complained as they sat up slowly.

"Electric type." She said in a 'matter of fact' way. "Raichu's don't store electricity well when they're in pain or startled."

"Is he dangerous?" Tea asked, concerned.

"Not really, Denkou knows better then to shock humans and even if he does, it's normally safe if you're wearing some form of rubber."

"So, what're you planning to do now?" Tea asked, "You gonna sign up for school?"

A single look from the Pokemon Trainer told the girl what she thought of that idea, "I have to keep an eye out for Team Galactic members, plus take care of my Pokemon, I don't have time for school." _I don't need school._

"We couldn't get Jamelia signed up now, even if she had time to." Joey said, "School doesn't accept transfers without papers and tests and allsorts."

"How do you know that?"

"Bakura."

There was a moment of surprise, since Bakura had been avoiding them since Duellist Kingdom, then Jamelia turned to Yugi, "Actually, I was wondering if I could come and watch you 'Duel' tomorrow."

"You want to watch?"

There was a nod, "If you'd let me."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"So you showed then." The first of the two who had challenged Yugi yesterday, Hiroshi, said, with a sneer that had Jamelia reaching for Aisu's Pokeball.

Yugi sighed at the macho act, "I never said I wouldn't."

"I see you brought cheerleaders along." The second, Hotaru, said, with an matching sneer.

"We're not cheerleaders." Joey growled.

"They're my friends and actually I'm introducing my friend to the game of Duel Monsters." Yugi said calmly, gesturing towards Jamelia, who moved her hand away from her belt. "Are there any free Duelling Arenas?"

"We've booked one, told them it was for a match with you and suddenly the spaces opened up."

Jamelia paused as Yugi seemed to gain a couple of inches, was this the magic he'd mentioned last night? "Fine, let's Duel."

They went indoors to one of the huge Duelling Arenas that reminded the Pokemon Trainer of a Stadium and she watched as Yugi take his place on a platform, leaning against the rails in interest as Yugi 'drew' his cards.

"Watch this Jamie, it's great." Joey sounded excited and Jamelia let the 'Jamie' slide.

"You can go first." Hiroshi said, sneering, "Show your friend how to lose."

Yugi didn't bother with a retort, "I summon the Dark Magician and play a card face down, your move."

Jamie's face was a picture as a man in a purple robe and a rather pointy hat stood on the field, purple hair obvious and a rather sharp glare aimed at Yugi's opponent. "What, how?"

The opponent's face was a picture too, he hadn't been expecting that right off the bat. There was grumbling under his breath as he set a card in defence mode and set a card face down.

"Joey, what?"

"Ok, I'll give you a quick rundown." The Duellist said as Yugi drew, summoned Celtic Guardian and used it to attack the face down monster, which exploded and took five hundred life points from Yugi as it did so. "Yugi's summoned his Monsters in Attack Mode, this means that they can attack the opponent. The card Yugi's Celtic Guardian destroyed was in defence mode which means that Hiroshi doesn't lose life points and his face down card must have had a special ability because it…" Joey paused.

"My Princess of Tsurugi takes five hundred points for every magic and trap card you have on the field." Hiroshi was gloating.

"You start off with two thousand life points, when you're attacked by a monster directly, your monster in attack mode is destroyed or you're hit by effect damage you lose life points, the first one to hit zero or run out of cards loses."

"Doesn't this mean that Hiroshi's going to lose?" Jamelia asked, "Yugi can attack with that purple guy."

"The Dark Magician and…" Joey paused as Yugi made the exact move that Jamelia had predicted. Hiroshi countered with Stop Attack, stopping the attack in it's tracks. "You're quick."

"Been in battles for years." She said shortly, Joey recognised a convertee when he saw one, "So you take turns and only get one attack per monster per turn?"

"That's right." Joey confirmed as Hiroshi summoned a rather large beast looking thing, that twatted Yugi's Celtic Guardian with it's ax. "Battle Ox." Joey filled in, as Yugi's points dropped by 600, to 900.

"Not stronger then Yugi's Dark Magician." Jamelia stated.

"No, but it's a very powerful monster." Joey said.

"I summon Curse of Dragon, in attack mode." Yugi said, "And activate Polymerisation, allowing me to merge my Curse of Dragon and my Gaia, the Fierce Knight, to make Gaia, the Dragon Champion."

Hiroshi gulped and Jamelia watched, entranced as Gaia destroyed the guy's Battle Ox and the Dark Magician won the Duel.

"So what do you think?" Joey asked.

"I want a go, but I'm not sure about humanoid monsters." The Trainer said as Hiroshi and Yugi exchanged a hated round of comments, which surprised the girl considering the Yugi she'd known so far had been quite calm and collected.

"I can take you." Hotaru said and it started again, but this match lasted one turn.

"After the enemies at Duellist Kingdom, these jokers are easy." Joey sighed, "We're contemplating entering the next big tournament just for a challenge."

Jamie snorted, "I know that feeling, I've been helping starting Trainers with training techniques, but it doesn't amount to a real battle."

Yugi joined them as Hiroshi and Hotaru stormed out.

"They were friendly." Jamie looked surprised as they headed out of the building. "That's considered the height of rudeness where I come from, storming off after a battle."

Joey snorted, "You'd better get used to it, Novice Duellists are notoriously rude when they lose."

The whole group froze as screams sounded from outside. Rushing out the door, and freezing.

"How the bloody hell did that get here!" Jamie demanded, as she acted without thinking, pulling Aisu's Pokeball from her belt and sending her out.

"Jamie, what is that?" Joey asked.

"An Onix!" She snapped, "Hey!"

The huge rock snake Pokemon turned and looked at her. Jamie pulled another Pokeball from her bag, "Aisu, Ice Beam!"

"Dig!"

Jamie snarled as the Ice Beam went over the diving Rock/Ground type's head and hit a statue of a Dragon behind it, turning it into a dragonsicle. "Who's there?"

The crowd had scattered to the sides, thinking this was a stunt to attract crowds to the Kaiba Corp building.

Yugi watched as Jamie shifted into an attacking stance as a guy in a white and grey outfit appeared in the clouds of smoke.

"You're Team Galactic!" Jamie snapped, "How the hell did you get here?"

"You?" The grunt laughed, "I thought you were lost at the same time as Cyrus!"

"Then there's more of you here?"

There was a smirk.

"Aisu, watch out!"

The Onix shot up, creating a second large crater and slamming into Aisu. The Glaceon landed on her feet, "Rock Smash!"

"Blizzard!"

"Dig!"

The Onix's tail was frozen as it went underground again.

"Wait for it." She ordered Aisu, "What happened with Palkia!"

"It's ours now, all that effort, wasted Trainer, you can't stop us now, the team in the real world will put our plans into action." Aisu managed to avoid the upcoming Onix.

"Now!" Aisu unleashed a powerful Ice Beam attack that froze the huge Pokemon rock solid. "How did you get here? How do we get back?"

The grunt smirked, recalled his Onix and vanished into the crowd. Jamie snarled and chased after it, losing him in the crowd. When Yugi and the gang finally caught up, Jamelia looked furious.

"From now on, Iblis and Shade come with me during the day." She snarled.

"You!" The Trainer tensed up, her Glaceon getting between the girl and the two men in suits shouting.

"Yes?"

"Mr Kaiba wants to see you."

"Who?" She asked Yugi, who whispered in her ear about him being the owner of the building she'd battled outside.

"Miss?" The suited men took a step forward.

"Is it safe?" She asked Yugi.

"Mostly." Yugi didn't lie.

"I want to collect the rest of my Pokemon, then I'll come and see your boss. Will twenty minutes suffice?"

They spoke to someone on a radio, "Where are you staying?"

"The Kame Game Shop." Jamie said, receiving a go ahead from Yugi.

"There will be a limo there in twenty minutes." The goon said and walked off.

"This isn't good, is it?" Jamie asked.

"Well," Yugi sighed, "We have twenty minutes to get you up to speed on Kaiba."

"Only if you can keep up, I have to go get Tsunami." She broke into a run and the gang went after her.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Author Note – So, Team Galatic in the Yu-Gi-Oh! World, Kaiba interested in the battle outside his building and Palkia captured in the Pokemon World. It's been a long day already and it's not even half done.


	3. Flightsuit

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by ****Kazuki Takahashi, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, I however, do not own either, if I did, I wouldn't be worried about money for University.**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"So this 'Seto Kaiba' is the head of this 'Kaiba Corp' place, and he's one of the most powerful men in Japan?"

"That's right."

"And his company focuses on that 'Duel Monsters' thing."

Joey facefaulted and Yugi sighed, "Yes, it focuses on games, specifically Duel Monsters."

"So why does he want to talk to me?" Jamie asked, before blowing on her whistle and waiting for her Gyarados to surface.

"I bet he thinks that you have access to some sort of new game technology and demonstrated it outside Kaiba Corp to embarrass him." Tristan said, "Either that or he wants to charge you for the damage to the grounds."

"That Onix wasn't mine."

"What is an Onix?" Joey had time to ask before he was drenched by Tsunami's arrival.

"It's a Rock/Ground snake Pokemon." Jamie said, recalling her Water serpent to it's Pokeball, "If anything he should be glad it didn't use Earthquake."

"Who else do we have to gather?" Joey asked.

"Shade and Denkou, but they're back at the house." Jamie sighed, "So how do I address the guy?"

"Kaiba?" Joey asked, "I can think of a few ways."

"She didn't mean a rude way numbskull." Tristan growled.

"Why I oughta…"

"Guys, we have ten minutes to get back to the shop, save your fighting till then please." Jamie said clearly before turning on her heels, attaching Tsunami's Pokeball to her belt and racing off again.

"Bloody hell." Joey growled, "She's quick." He caught up easily though, being much taller then the young Trainer.

They slowed down enough for the rest of the gang to catch up. "So basically," Jamie gasped, "I should make sure he understands my Pokemon aren't holothingys, and I shouldn't underestimate him."

Yugi nodded, "The one thing I would recommend is that you talk to Kaiba like you would a Trainer of your own skill level, he doesn't respect underlings and doesn't see anyone as better then him."

'_Except us.'_

"_Not helping, Jamie doesn't know about you."_

'_Since when was she Jamie?'_

Yugi paused, not faltering in his steps as he raced to keep up with the others, _"Joey started it this morning. You've been quiet since she got here."_

'_Watching and learning. She's still uncertain of everything.'_

"_Can you blame her?"_

'_No. I can understand what she's going through actually.'_

Yugi snorted, gaining himself an odd look from the Trainer. "What?"

"I think Kaiba's going to throw a fit when he realises that the only Duel Monsters you've ever seen were the ones this morning." Yami borrowed Yugi's voice for a moment, earning himself a mental glare from the teen.

Jamie smiled, "I think I'm going to enjoy this."

They made it to the Game Shop with three minutes to spare and the limo was already waiting.

"Denkou, Shade!" Jamie shouted up the stairs, amusing the customers and annoying Solomon, until the huge black canine Pokemon was chased downstairs by a huge mouse looking thing.

"Jamelia, not in the shop!" Solomon growled.

"Sorry, someone called Kaiba wants to see me about a Pokemon Battle earlier and his limo's outside." She recalled the two Pokemon, "Besides, unless you know a way of wiping memories, it's not going to matter soon anyway."

Solomon sighed then paused. "Seto Kaiba wants to see you?"

Jamie shrugged, "I don't know what he wants, but if he tries anything I have my Pokemon."

She vanished out of the shop and Solomon's customers turned to him, "I want whatever game she's got."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"So, any idea why he wants to see me?"

Silence.

"You guys don't talk much do you?"

More silence.

"I'm just going to call Iblis out of his Pokeball and escape now is that alright?"

"We'd prefer it if you didn't."

"Hey look, they speak." Jamie didn't know who she was talking to, she felt uneasy being in the limo so soon after arriving here and without anyone she trusted.

They pulled to a stop much sooner then she'd've thought considering how long it had taken them to get to the arena this morning, "Miss?"

Jamie nodded, and stepped out of the limo. The building they were outside wasn't the same one from earlier; it was the huge skyscraper that Yugi had pointed out this morning.

"This way please Miss." She followed one of the suited goons into the skyscraper and then into a lift. They were joined by several people in suits and Jamie looked down at herself, pulling at her top and shorts, her last clean clothes, she'd left most of them at the Pokemon Centre in Eterna City, planning to come back for them after the Palkia incident, except she'd never returned… she needed new clothes… she had no money and she wasn't going to ask Mr Muto for some.

The lift stopped several times, letting the other people out and they had to switch lifts before they finally reached the top floor, where they had to wait another five minutes to be let into Mr Kaiba's office.

Once there the two bodyguards stood at the door and the brunette teenager examined her. "So, you're the one with the holograms earlier?"

"They're not holograms." Jamie said, "If you'd let me, I'd like to introduce you to the Pokemon that was protecting our building earlier."

"Who are you?" Kaiba asked.

"Jamelia Francis of…" Jamie paused.

"Yes?" Kaiba growled.

"I am Jamelia Francis of Littleroot Town, Aspiring Champion of the Sinnoh League and Winner of this year's Sinnoh League Conference." She said firmly, just as she had introduced herself to Cynthia, even though the woman had probably already known who she was.

Kaiba looked amused, as if she was a mouse he'd just caught. "And what game is it you play that allows you to make this claim?"

"It's no game, Kaiba." Jamie frowned, "It's a point that Trainers all over the world work towards. Becoming a Pokemon Master is the dream of millions of Trainers."

Kaiba paused, "But there are no Pokemon and Trainers that I know of and I have a tab on most things going on in the world."

Jamie snorted, "You have no clue, that's why you dragged me here, you can't catch the guy that attacked because he was confused, so you dragged me here instead because I was easy to find."

Annoyance crossed Kaiba's face for a moment. "So what exactly are Pokemon?"

Jamie pulled a ball off of her belt, "May I? I swear she'll behave."

"Go ahead."

"Aisu, come on out!" The Glaceon appeared, but instead of appearing battle ready, she arrived and turned to look at her Trainer.

"Glaceon?"

"It's alright Aisu, this man is the owner of that dragon statue we froze earlier."

The Glaceon looked properly contrite, and walked over to Kaiba, head bowed and looked up at him, "Glace? Glaceon Glace."

"Does she say anything else?"

"A Pokemon's language consist of their name said with different tones and afflictions, since Aisu is a Glaceon, well…" Jamie shrugged. "She's a living animal, she requires just as much love and care as any other Pokemon."

Kaiba gazed at the Ice type and touched her head carefully as if to check she was real. The Glaceon leant into the touch and barked happily, taking it as an acceptance of her apology, before running back to her Trainer's side.

"And that man this morning, who dug up the path?" Kaiba asked.

"A member of Team Galactic, a group of despicable humans who are trying to take over the world and remake it as they wish." _And are winning in the Pokemon World._ "They're not above attacking people to get what they want."

"Are you with them?"

"They're the reason that I'm here." Jamie's voice took on a low growl that was matched by Aisu. "Each Pokemon has a special power, Aisu's is with ice, and they captured the Lord of Space, Palkia. Before they could do so, it attacked with Spacial Rend and…" She paused, "You don't believe me, so why am I bothering?"

Actually Kaiba was interested and was working out how he could use this to his advantage.

"So you're from some other world, linked into those strange portals that opened up during the night time and threw out Kaiba Corp scanners?"

"I guess, I didn't know about over portals, I was dumped on Yugi's doorstep and he took me in."

"But you have no money, no supplies and no way of getting more without borrowing from Muto?"

"No." Jamie looked annoyed about that.

"Do you only have Glaceon with you?" Kaiba asked, her value was less if she only had the one with her.

"No. In fact… Yugi said you like dragons, is he right?"

"Yes."

Jamie smiled, "If I may…"

Kaiba nodded.

"There's not enough room here for them but I have a Charizard and a Gyarados with me who both look like dragons."

Kaiba paused and then nodded to the two bodyguards. "We will take this discussion up to the Duelling arena so I can see exactly what you are talking about."

"I…" Jamie paused in mentioning her lack of Duelling abilities, not wanting to reveal a weakness. Instead she followed them, feeling like a sheep.

Once there Kaiba turned to her, "Do you have enough room now?"

Her answer was to call out all of her Pokemon.

Kaiba's look was one of interest as he examined them. "What species are they?"

"Aisu you've met and is a Glaceon." The small icy blue canine barked.

Kaiba paused to look at the huge blue serpent, "And this is?"

"Tsunami, he's a Gyarados, he's a Water/Flying type."

There was nothing to indicate interest or annoyance as he turned to the huge black dog.

"Shade is a Mightyena, a Dark type."

Kaiba didn't pause long, turning to the huge turtle thing.

"Gaia, my Torterra, she was my first Pokemon. She's a Grass/Ground type."

"Dual types?"

"They learn attacks of both types."

"I see." He paused as he looked at the huge winged lizard with a flame at the end of it's Kaib

"A Charizard, his name is Iblis, he's Fire/Flying."

The Charizard responded by using Flamethrower, firing straight up into the air, and earnt himself a scolding from Jamie, making it look sheepish.

Finally Kaiba turned to the mouse thing.

"Denkou is a Raichu, an Electric type Pokemon who is overlooked more then is healthy."

"Interesting." Kaiba paused. "Do you play Duel Monsters?"

"I know of it. I saw my first games this morning, Yugi played in them, one lasted two, three turns maximum and the other only one. I've never played."

"Moneywise, how will you keep your creatures fed?"

"They're not…"

"Pokemon, how will you keep you Pokemon fed?"

"Tsunami was hunting in the dock, Gaia absorbs uv rays from the sun, I'm not sure how I'll manage with the others."

"And you have no money you can spend here of your own?"

"No."

Kaiba looked the Pokemon over again and then turned to her, "You work for Kaiba Corp, promoting the arena and battling when we say. You get paid 250,000 yen a week for costs."

"I have to make sure that I can get to any Team Galactic threats, I cannot take a full time job at this moment of time, just as I cannot afford to start school here after the events of this morning."

Kaiba paused, thinking quickly, "You work for me 10 till 2, you get the rest of the day to tend to your Pokemon and the like and battle whoever you need to." Kaiba held up a hand before she could accept, "In exchange, any wild Pokemon you capture that slip though any more rifts get stored here at Kaiba Corp."

"I won't capture Pokemon for experiments."

"I wouldn't test them for anything without your co-operation. Also you start to play Duel Monsters, I won't have anyone representing my company who can't play the game."

"And what exactly would I be doing while I was working?"

"Defending my company against any more Pokemon attacks, letting children play with your Pokemon…"

"We'd be a tourist attraction." It was said distastefully and Kaiba watched her sharply. She wasn't like anyone he'd met, she had no respect or fear of him, even the mutt had some measure of respect. "I don't…"

"I must explain before you turn this down, that being affiliated with Kaiba Corp would save you problems with the Government, who would either see your monsters as a threat or as something to be experimented on or maybe both. You'd be safe as they would believe that this was all part of some game. You could go about your day to day life outside of work hours without worry or having to hide your Pokemon." Jamie thought about it, Kaiba could almost see the cogs working in her head and added a final touch. "The Mutos can't support your Pokemon forever with the amount I imagine some of your bigger ones eat."

Jamie looked at her Pokemon, remembered the emptiness of the Muto and fridge and sighed, "Deal." She agreed, offering her hand. "But I don't have any cards."

"That," Kaiba said, shaking it like a businessman closing a deal, which, Jamie reminded herself, he was, "Can be remedied."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

The gang gave it half an hour before they started walking to Kaiba Corp, it was another half an hour before they had a straight answer out of any one and another ten minutes before Seto Kaiba joined them in the lobby.

"Where is she?" Yami demanded, feeling surprisingly protect of his hikari's new friend.

"Overprotective for someone you've just met aren't you?" Kaiba snorted.

"Where is Jamie?"

"Here I am." The young woman said as she stepped out of the lift, "Kaiba, I've finished."

"Good, did you pick up the uniform?"

"There's nothing suitable for riding a Charizard."

"Uniform?"

"I'm working for Kaiba, to earn my own money." Jamie said defensively, tucking her hair behind her ear. "It's nothing personal, but I'm used to earning my way." Yami nodded in understanding. Joey looked like he'd swallowed something he didn't like and Tea and Tristan gave each other an odd look. "So what am I supposed to do about uniform? No one else has one."

"I'll call my PA down, if your friends can wait until she's done."

Jamie looked at them. _Trust me to be alright on my own._

"We'll be at the Game Shop." Yami said, nodding his answer to her unspoken question earning an honest smile.

"Yuge?"

There was an unspoken conversation that passed between Joey and Yami and finally Joey shrugged.

"I'll see you later guys."

"Be careful."

There was a nod in reply.

"Let's go."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"I don't like it, Yuge." Joey frowned, sat in the living room, "How do we know she can trust Kaiba?"

"We can't afford to feed her Pokemon." Yugi admitted at last. "I have no choice but to let her work for Kaiba."

"And if he's using her?"

"I wouldn't like to be Kaiba." Tristan grinned, remembering the look she'd given that Team Galactic member.

The doorbell rang on the back entrance.

Tea had let the Pokemon Trainer in before anyone had moved. "Hey Jamie."

There was a quiet question and Tea examined something, "Dunno, I think it's a little too light for your hair colour but…" She shrugged, "Show the boys."

A teenager in a sleeveless flightsuit came into the living room, looking a little shy.

Joey whistled as he examined her, the white flightsuit had pale blue markings, was sleeveless with pale blue edging, a pale blue Kaiba Corp logo and, he noticed with little surprise, the silver belt had a deck bag. She dropped a light blue backpack onto the table.

"Looking good." Tristan grinned, then was slapped by Joey. "What?"

"She's younger then you!"

"No, she's… how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"She's only a year younger!"

"Ok, this is awkward enough," Jamie sighed, "Do I look ridiculous?"

"No, it suits you."

"Cool. Look Yugi…"

"I'm fine with it, you need the money and it means that you can buy what you need."

"I need to speak to Mr Muto."

"He's downstairs." Yugi sighed.

"Thanks." A brief smile, then teen, flightsuit and deck bag vanished down the steps to the shop.

"I thought she didn't play Duel Monsters."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Mr Muto?"

"Give me a second, Jamelia." He finished serving the customer and turned around, examining the flightsuit. "Kaiba Corp?"

"I have a job, I'm earning 250,000 a week, so you don't have to fork out for new clothes, plus I have two of these so…"

"250,000 a week?" Solomon gaped at her.

"For food for my Pokemon, and clothes and things for me."

"Jamelia… are you sure this is a good idea?"

"No." She admitted, "But I don't want to borrow money from you and you can't afford to keep us if you don't. Trainers get good prices where I'm from, here they charge you extra for bulk buying."

Solomon opened his mouth, then paused and sighed. "Just promise me that you'll be careful."

"I will." She paused, then smiled gently, "I promise Solomon."

Solomon smiled back at her. "Go get out of that, you'll get it dirty roughhousing with the boys."

"Sure Grandpa." The tone was sarcastic, but Solomon's eyes widened in shock at the name. She stalked upstairs.

"Your Granddaughter?" The next customer asked.

Solomon just smiled, "Kind of."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Can I ask why you're up here?"

Jamie's eyes shot open and Iblis raised his head and tail from the roof tiles, "Hi Yugi."

"Hey, couldn't sleep?" Yugi asked, looking up at her through the window in his room.

"Not inside." She shook her head, "The tiles aren't that uncomfortable. I'm used to sleeping on the hard ground. No Puzzle?"

"I do take it off at night you know."

Jamie snorted, "Wanna pull up some tile? I have another sleeping mat."

"What if it rains?"

Jamie sniffed, gazed at the sky for a moment and then grinned. "It won't, there's no rain in the air."

Yugi ducked into the room, grabbed a couple of things, put on the Millennium Puzzle and joined her. "So, you were getting there with your foxes."

"I don't know why I have to learn, it's not like I'll be playing anyone."

Yugi smiled, "I think you'll be surprised."

She smiled, "It's not that I'm not grateful for the room, it's just I've lived under the stars for so long that I'm not comfortable with a roof over my head for more then a day."

Yugi let the silence speak for itself for a while, then looked at the Trainer, she was asleep and Yugi grinned.

'_She's not bad looking.'_

"_Yami!"_

'_What?'_ A pause, _'I forgot, you like Tea don't you?'_

Yugi refused to answer, in favour of blushing.

There was laughter._ 'Why don't you tell her?'_

"_Jamie?"_

'_No, Tea.' _Yami was laughing again, _'Unless you actually do like Jamie.'_

"_No! Not like that, she's alright, but I don't know her." _Yami's amused chuckle stopped Yugi's denials. _"You…"_

Yami was still chuckling as Yugi fell asleep on the roof.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Author Note: - I don't know what to say, I guess the story's still slow, and I'm sorry about this but I'm still settling Jamie in. Hehe, now how do I go from here to where I want to go next…?


	4. Burning Building

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by ****Kazuki Takahashi, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, I however, do not own either, if I did, I wouldn't be worried about money for University.**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Are you aware there's a Charizard on your roof?"

"I think there's a Jamie there too." Yugi laughed as he let his friend in.

"No, the Jamie is having fun getting into her flight suit." A voice called down the stairs, "Give me a sec, I'll walk with you."

"Can you chuck down my…"

A deck box came sliding down the banister and a belt came flying down the stairs, the first was caught by the young man and the second landed on his head.

"You're late aren't you?"

"Na, I have half an hour and a Charizard." The teen came down the stairs, fully dressed and tying her hair back, "Ready." Six Pokeballs rested on her belt and she grinned at them, "I thought you had time off school."

"Interschool football match, we're going to support the team." Tea filled in as Yugi and Jamie put their shoes on. "We're meeting Joey and Tristan there."

"Cool. I was hoping you could meet me after work, I have something to show you guys."

"Sure, the match should be done by then." Yugi grinned, "Any clues?"

"Nope, I'm not giving anything away." The Trainer looked amused, "Let's go."

Tea trailed off as she realised she was filling in the silence that seemed to be looming over the three of them. Jamie seemed to be lost in a world of her own and Yugi seemed to be so deep in thought that even the spirit of his Puzzle couldn't reach him.

Eventually the silence got to Jamie who bowed out, sent out her Charizard and flew in the direction of work, startling Yugi back to reality, and making Tea laugh.

"Anything I can help with?" Tea asked finally as they turned down the main high street.

"Pegasus knew more about the Millennium Puzzle then we did." Yugi said with a frown, "And Shadi said something about 'our destiny' and a great evil…" Yugi sighed and slipped into silence again.

Tea frowned and looked at Yugi carefully, the young man didn't let slip when things worried him very often, and for him to act this worried meant that he had to be ridiculously worried and with good reason.

Then she spotted something, just tucked to one side of the street that could possibly help, a fortune teller.

"Hey Yugi…"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Jamie was letting a couple of little kids help her feed her Pokemon when she thought she saw a familiar head in the crowds milling around and Shade broke away from the group and dashed off, leaving his Pokeball and his Trainer behind.

"Iblis! Follow him!"

Her Charizard launched, following the huge black dog.

"They alright?" Jamie jumped and wheeled around to find a small, black haired boy giving her a worried look.

"Mr Mokuba." Jamie bowed, "I think so."

"Do you have to call me Mr Mokuba?" The younger Kaiba looked irritated, "You've been working for us how long?"

"A month." Jamie said, passing more food to the kid feeding Tsunami, who looked a little scared and very excited.

"Are you getting on alright?"

Jamie snorted, "Could be better but…" She shrugged, "I can't complain really, there was the Pokemon battle last night," Seeing Mokuba's interested look she grinned, "A coupl of Team Galactic grunts atacked a local shop. We won, of course, but Aisu's still resting," She gestured to Ice Type who was sleeping under the Blue Eyes White Dragon Statue, "And Iblis didn't wake up until about ten minutes ago."

"Any idea where they've gone?"

"No, but I sent Iblis to follow Shade and I'm not supposed to leave the premises until my shift is over."

Mokuba looked around, "It's slowing down, finish feeding your Pokemon and go."

"Thank you." Jamie smiled, then turned and shouted, "Five minutes guys, then I'm closing up shop for the day!"

There were groans, but no one complained when five minutes later, Mokuba refunded half their money, Jamie recalled her remaining Pokemon and raced off in the direction her Charizard had flown.

She was halfway down the main street when Iblis swooped down, flying down low enough to disturb the other walkers. "Where's Shade?"

Iblis landed and let her mount before he was airborne again and swooping over the buildings. At this height she could see the smoke rising from what looked like an abandoned warehouse and Iblis was flying towards it, getting under the smoke cloud and dropping her off.

She could hear Shade barking inside the building, the door was wreaked, possibly the result of a Take Down attack, and the blaze was uncontrollable.

"Denkou! Tsunami!" She bellowed, chucking out the Pokeballs, "Rain Dance, Water Pulse!"

The electric mouse and the water/flying snake attacked on order, "Shade?" Jamie pushed her way into the building, coughing as she inhaled the smoke, "Shade?"

"Jamie?" The Trainer froze, "Get out of here!"

"Joey? Tristan? Yugi?" Jamie moved through, feeling the heat, and spotting the three and Shade on the Duelling platform.

"Get out!" Joey yanked on the chain attached to the Millennium Puzzle, attempting to pull it free.

"Shade! Take Down!"

The huge black dog slammed into the platform, but it didn't help loosen the Puzzle, both Trainer and canine coughed.

"Get out, now!" Tristan glared, "We've got Yugi!"

Jamie hesitated.

"Go."

"Shade, return!" Jamie turned and sprinted back out, to where Tea was arriving, with a Fire Engine.

"Jamie?" Tea's eyes were wide with terror as the two came out.

"Iblis." Jamie had enough breath to say, before she turned to Denkou and Tsunami, the Rain was dying down, the equivalent of five turns in the Pokemon World was done, "Rain Dance, Blizzard!"

The two Pokemon attacked again, Tsunami's Blizzard hit the building but the snow melted as soon as it hit.

"It's too hot!" Jamie growled.

Then there was a pause, like the world was waiting for something, and Joey and Tristan came out, carrying and unconscious Yugi.

The building collapsed.

Jamie and Tea were at their friend's side as the rain washed away the ashes from faces and uniforms.

"Don't you worry guys, he's safe and sound now." Joey said reassuringly, "And that Millennium Puzzle of his is too." Joey gave Tristan a small smile, "Tristan, not for nothing old pal, but let me tell you, you and me, we're heroes."

"Take him to the hospital, I'll help here." Jamie said, turning and facing the fire like it was an adversary to be battled. It had nearly taken one of her own, so to her, it was. "Tsunami, Blizzard! Denkou return, go Aisu!" The Raichu returned and the Glaceon appeared as the ambulance loaded up Yugi and Tea.

"Aisu, Hail!"

The rain changed to hailstones, which fell much heavier.

"Jamie?" Joey asked.

"Iblis!" Jamie shouted, blowing her whistle. Tsunami wheeled around to look at her and Iblis landed. "Joey, Tristan, want a ride?"

Joey looked a little pale but Tristan nodded, patting his friend on the back.

The two mounted the fire/flying type.

"Send him back when you're done."

Tristan nodded and they left.

"Miss, you should get out of here." One of the fire-fighters called after another round of attacks.

"This is a nightmare, it's out of control, I don't think our attacks are doing anything."

"They're not." One of the fire-fighters said, "I'd go check on your friend."

"I…" The decision was taken from her as Iblis landed and her Glaceon pushed her towards the Charizard. "Fine, Aisu, Tsunami return." She took off, trusting Iblis to know the way to the hospital.

Tristan was waiting for her in the car park, giving her a moment to land before pulling her to one side and taking a deep breath,

"What's wrong?"

"Look Jamie, it's not that we're not grateful for your help, Shade broke the door down, but there's things about this you're not going to understand."

Jamie frowned, "Why was Yugi in the fire? Why was his Millennium Puzzle attached to that Duelling platform?"

"Someone stole the Millennium Puzzle, we don't know everything yet, but whoever it was started that fire."

"If they stole the Millennium Puzzle, why didn't they run for it?"

"That's one of things you won't understand yet."

"Tristan!"

"Only if Yugi wants to tell you."

Jamie growled but followed Tristan to the waiting room where Joey was pacing, still half coated in ashes and Tea was stood over by one of the phones, having a conversation with Mr Muto.

There was a pause as the two looked at her, then Joey sighed and sat down.

"How is he?"

"He should be fine." The doctor came in, "He's just come around, but don't wear him out." He looked around, "I'm afraid only next of kin can go up."

"Come on Doc, that's our little brother up there." Joey protested, "We have to go see him."

"You can go up, but you, you and you," He pointed to Tea, Tristan and Jamie in turn, "Aren't related."

"Doc…"

"It's alright Doc." Jamie said, "I understand." She gave Tristan a look that he interpreted as follow me.

"Which ward is he in so we can tell his Grandfather?" Tea asked carefully.

"Ward seven." There was a pause as the doctor considered them, it couldn't hurt he decided. "Second floor."

"Thank you." Tea relayed the information put the phone down, then they left.

"All right spill, you have a plan." Tristan said once they were out of sight of the door.

She looked up and grinned as someone opened a window. "Joey pre-empted me."

"You want us to fly up to Yugi's room and sneak in?" Tea didn't look amused.

"Why not?" Tristan grinned, "How many can Iblis carry at once?"

"Tristan!"

"What?"

"Two, unless he's tired from earlier."

"Jamelia!"

"What?"

A blonde head poked out of the window and looked at them as if to say, 'you coming or what?' and vanished again.

"Fine, but if we get into trouble I'm blaming you." Tea said, pointedly looking at Jamie who gave her best innocent look and sent out her Charizard.

"Let's go then."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"So let me get this straight." Jamie was saying as she walked back to the Game Shop, "The Millennium Puzzle has to be won from Yugi or it's powers are useless to whoever takes it from him?"

"That's what Pegasus and Bakura were trying, and whoever was controlling Keith." Joey nodded.

"And Yugi can't lose a single match to a bad guy or his Puzzle will be taken from him?"

"Raichu? Rai Raichu." Denkou said confidently, walking alongside his Trainer as the group headed down a short cut.

"I know that's harsh, but it's sounds like playing Duel Monsters is as dangerous as Pokemon Training if you're caught up in the magical side of it." Jamie replied.

"Raiai Raichu Rai?" The orangey electric mouse Pokemon looked at Joey who looked at it's Trainer for an explanation.

"Something about 'Joey magic too'?"

Joey looked surprised, "Why would I be magical too?"

"Raichu, rai Raichu Rai, Chu Raichu." Raichu froze, wheeled around and was sparking at something it had seen.

Jamie was already reacting, and was surprised to find Tristan and Joey were faster then her, getting between the girls and the guy.

He was almost as tall as Joey, who easily dwarfed Jamie, had shocking white hair, and a look that reminded Jamie of Yugi when he was duelling and winning.

What surprised her though was what was at his side.

On his left was a small black canine, with white markings on it's back, and an odd skull like mask.

"Where did you find a Houndour?" Jamie pushed past the two teens and rushed over, excited.

"Oh, I found him wandering around and wondered who he belonged to. I heard a girl with odd creatures is working for Kaiba, so I headed over there, but she'd left early." The white haired teen looked at her, "Was that you?"

"I'm Francis Jamelia, of Littleroot Town. I work for Kaiba Corp."

"Bakura Ryou." Bakura offered his hand, "I'm a student at the same school as Joey and the others."

Jamie shook it. "Nice to meet you, Bakura."

Bakura grinned at her, "I was hoping you could take him off my hands, I don't know how to look after him."

Jamie looked at the Houndour, then at Bakura. "If you're sure."

"I am." Bakura looked at the Houndour, who gazed at him and then went over to Denkou and started chasing the Raichu's tail. The teen held her gaze, brown holding sapphire in an unbreakable grip for a moment or two, then he passed Houndour's Pokeball to Jamie and grinned and looked over at Tristan who was glaring at him. "Anyway, I have to go, it was nice to meet you."

"Same." Jamie responded, still a little stunned.

Bakura left and the Houndour settled down, coming to Jamie's side and sitting on her left while Denkou pulled at her trousers. "Raicharai?"

Jamie jumped and picked up her Raichu, hugging it. "I'm fine." She turned to face a set of worried teens, "What?"

"Ok, new warning. You know the Bakura we've been talking about?"

"The one with the Millennium Ring?"

"That was him."

"He seemed nice enough."

"That's why the warning, he always does, until he isn't any more and you're on the receiving end of his magic."

"All right, I'll be careful." She sighed and started walking home again, looking at the Houndour, "Where did he get you?"

"Hound?" Houndour asked.

"He had a Pokeball for you. He can't have found you wandering around."

Joey coughed. "Ok, forgot to warn you. When we first met him, Bakura told Yugi that he was a 'thief' and a 'stealer of souls'."

"He didn't tell you?"

"We were a little…" Joey hesitated.

"Unconscious." Tristan pointed out.

"At the time." Joey finished.

"Oh." Pause. "Wait, stealer of souls?" She asked. "How much more aren't you telling me?"

Joey snorted. "How much more aren't you telling us." He pointed out.

"A lot, but you're not likely to run into the King of Skies now are you?" Jamie said, "If we ever get Rayquaza here, the multiverse is screwed." She sounded more then irritated, "However, I think problems that I could run into on a day to day basis need explaining." She paused. "And I want someone to carry on my Duel Monsters lessons if I'm going to be ready for the Novice Tournament in a week's time." _Or if I run into any Duelling crazies._

"I can help." Joey nodded, "Or Grandpa might continue your lessons, though be warned, if he takes over, you might not get any sleep."

"He can't be that bad."

Joey just gave her a knowing look.

"Great. Just great." The Trainer threw her hands up in the air.

"Houndour! Hound."

"Rai, Raichu chuai Raicarai."

"All right, all right." Jamie knew when she was being scolded, "I'll take whatever lessons I can get and you…" She turned to the Houndour as they turned down the road to the Game Shop, "Are coming to Kaiba Corp with me tomorrow."

"Hound."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Author Note: Hey. Chapter. So much has happened since I last posted, including a week's holiday. So, a fire, a thief and a demand for answers. Now things are beginning to heat up. Oops… unintentional pun… anyway, new chapter, new info, new Pokemon.


	5. Frozen Lake

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by ****Kazuki Takahashi, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, I however, do not own either, if I did, I wouldn't be worried about money for University.**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Another month ad a half passed, Jamie had competed in and come fourth in the intermediate level Duelling Tournaments, Yugi hadn't come under attack again… yet, everyone was one edge… and Jamie had discovered that she had a surprising friend.

It wasn't hard to make the jump from the Pokemon that Bakura had been giving her, and the slow down in Team Galactic attacks.

But considering that in the process of a month, she'd been given around thirty Pokemon, she was hoping it was because there were fifteen or so Grunts walking around with no Pokemon, not because there were thirty or so Grunts wandering around with one Pokemon missing.

Kaiba had finally given in, moving the Pokemon Day Care from the ground floor of the Kaiba Tower, and into the warehouses that had been specially converted for the job. They had been bought by Kaiba Corp and modified in a surprisingly short space of time, and were exactly halfway between the Kame Game Shop and the Kaiba Corp Tower.

Before Yugi had been out of the hospital, Bakura had often come over late at night, once she'd settled on the roof at night, to deliver his gift of a new Pokemon.

The Houndour had taken a liking to Mokuba, and had stuck with the younger Kaiba brother, and since then Bakura had given her Pokemon of almost every type and size, including a couple of badly neglected Water types that Bakura had seemed glad to hand over.

Since Yugi had been out of hospital, and sleeping on the roof with her on alternate nights, he'd been catching her as she'd been opening up the Day Care.

It was a difficult position she found herself in, while she knew that she shouldn't trust Bakura, and in her own way she didn't, and yet he came to her of his own accord, getting angry on behalf of the maltreated Pokemon, and there had only been one occasion when the Bakura she'd been warned about had come out and that had been when the Day Care had come under attack from a group of pissed of Galactic Grunts.

It had been the day after Bakura had brought in a neglected Milotic.

Jamie had been busy treating the poor, thin, mistreated Tender Pokemon, when the Grunts had attempted a break in. She could understand why, by this point they'd had twenty, twenty-one Pokemon in the Day Care and a Milotic was not only one of the rarest non legendary Pokemon, but it was the most beautiful and worth a lot of money.

She didn't know what Bakura had done to the Grunts, but they hadn't been back since and the Day Care either hadn't been attacked since or something had protected it since then as it had been perfectly safe since.

Bakura seemed to know instinctively when Yugi and the gang were coming too, vanishing without a trace whenever they were five minutes away. After the first couple of times, Jamie had stopped questioning it and started timing Yugi's arrival.

She'd asked the thief about it, and while he was happy to talk to her about the Millennium Magic, more so then Yugi was, there were things, like why he wanted Yugi's Puzzle, he wouldn't talk to her about.

The reason that he left whenever Yugi was close was because he didn't trust he wouldn't pull something in the Day Care and he knew Yugi would be able to sense him if they were too close.

Trust the thief, don't trust the thief, he'd never stolen from her.

Yugi was another one. She knew she could trust him and yet she didn't know how much because he was keeping secrets from her, and yet, like Bakura, he'd helped her out when she'd needed it.

If it hadn't been for Yugi, after all, she wouldn't have had anywhere to sleep during that first month and a half. Now she could stay in the Day Care, she couldn't call it a Pokemon Centre, she didn't have the facilities to treat injuries and she'd run out of potions two months ago.

The summer holidays were only a week away now, and if anything she was glad that she'd managed to get most of the… 'rescued' Pokemon… to start accepting other humans, the Day Care was going to be insanely busy over the next few weeks and Kaiba had given her permission to hire more staff.

So she'd hired Bakura, Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Tea, along with a couple of others, all to start in the next week and all causing headaches with scheduling, since there was no way she could have Bakura and Yugi on duty at the same time, if she had Tristan and Joey on duty at the same time, they'd fight with each other and there were about thirty other reasons why this guy and that guy couldn't work together.

She was tempted to ask Mokuba if he wanted to run the Day Care and if she could just work there, she wasn't a big fan off all the paperwork and she didn't know if she was doing everything right.

Yugi had a date with Tea today, Joey was working in the shop and Tristan was off somewhere, so today it was her, a couple of Kaiba Corp employees and Bakura looking after the thirty or so Pokemon that were currently resting, in various states of sated and sleeping.

Jamie was actually getting ready to test the new wetsuit. Kaiba Corp colours of course, white, blue and silver, but it was suitable for the deep pool at the back of the Day Care.

"So what do you think?" Jamie grinned as she twirled around, silver coloured goggles resting on her head.

The teen nodded approvingly, "I like it."

"Bakura… do you…?" Jamie sighed, "Look after my deck for me will you?"

He nodded and Jamie tossed him her deck bag and Pokeball belt, before pulling on her goggles and diving into the water.

Tsunami was asleep on the pond floor, the Milotic was swimming around, plus a Crawdaunt and a Corsola were resting on the sides, along with some fish from this world and the Staryu that Bakura had brought along this morning that were swimming around.

The pool was fuller then she would have liked, but they'd need more space to expand it any further, besides, Kaiba had gotten them to dig as deep as they could.

A shockwave hit her from all sides, waking Tsunami and causing all the Water Pokemon to head for the surface. Attempting to shake off her shock, she swam for the surface.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

It was late when Yugi finally got back to the Game Shop and Solomon sent him straight back out again with Joey to find their friend.

Why did Joey have Jamie's Pokeball Belt?

Joey filled Yugi in on their way to the Pokemon Day Care Centre, Jamie hadn't come home yet, this wasn't like her, not since the Day Care Centre had opened, and they'd been even more worried when they'd found her belt on her bed, along with her deck box. She never went anywhere without either, not since the fire, so something was very wrong. Plus one of her Pokeballs were missing. They'd checked, it was Iblis's.

Turning the corner they didn't like what they saw at all, putting on a burst of speed at the last.

Police had cordoned off the Day Care, which had holes in the sides and looked worse for wear and worst of all there was no sign of the Pokemon, or Jamie.

"Where's my cousin?" Yugi asked the officers, "Jamelia, the Head of the Day Care?"

"There was an attack." The officers looked awkward, "From those weirdos that have those creatures, I'm sorry kid but Jamelia Francis isn't here."

"Shit." Joey breathed, looking through the crowd. The two backed off as Yugi changed slightly, violet eyes turning crimson, and gaining a couple of inches. Joey paused, Yugi hadn't changed completely since before Jamie had arrived, and it was a sign of how worried the teen was, if the spirit of his Puzzle was taking the lead.

"Do you think she was taken?" Joey asked.

"It's a possibility." Yami growled, pausing as someone ducked under the tape and through a hole in the wall while the police weren't looking.

"Wasn't that?"

Yami nodded, diving under the tape himself and following, Joey a split second later.

Inside the Day Care looked just as bad as outside, the planted trees were ripped up or blasted, the carefully laid paths and grass scorched and ruined and the pool that ran along the back of the warehouses that had been joined together to form a big enough area was frozen.

It was here that the Someone had stopped, sending out a huge, flaming Pokemon. "Iblis! Flamethrower!"

The fire struck the ice in the darken building, lighting up the face of the other person.

"Bakura?" Yami growled, racing towards the ice.

"Not now Yugi" Bakura snarled, "Unless you want your friend trapped under the ice permanently."

"What?"

"She was down there when they froze it." Bakura snapped.

The flames died as steam rose, and a hole in the ice was obvious. Joey dove in, leaving the two yamis above the water.

"Why are you here?" Yami asked. "I know you're the spirit of the Ring, not Bakura."

"Is it so surprising?" Bakura asked with a raised eyebrow, "That your friend would seek friendship with those who help her?"

"You? Help Jamie?" Yami asked, "Why?"

Bakura was saved from answering by Joey surfacing with an unconscious Jamie in tow. "Not breathing!"

Yami and Bakura pulled the two out. "I thought she said she could breathe underwater?" Yami growled.

"Hypothermia." Bakura glared at him, "Even if she can breathe underwater, she's been down there for hours." He looked at the Charizard, who curled up on the ice, before putting his ear to her chest. "Shit. Wheeler, do you have Denkou?"

"What? Why?"

"Her heart's stopped you idiot!"

Joey fumbled with the Pokeballs, sending out Aisu and Gaia before hastily returning the huge grass turtle and finally sending out Raichu.

Denkou took one look around, then focused completely on it's Trainer, unleashing a Thunderbolt that went straight through his Trainer and if the conducted jolts were anything to go by, if that didn't help…

Jamie gasped, opened her eyes for a moment, coughed out the water to replace it with oxygen and passed straight back out again.

Joey and Bakura were at her side in a heartbeat, checking her over. "Breathing." Joey sighed in relief.

"She's not clear yet." Bakura shook his head, "Iblis!"

It was clear her Pokemon had done this before, as the huge Fire Type moved over, lying next to his trainer and keeping his flame close.

"Get the police." Yami and Bakura said to Joey at the same time. The teen looked at them as if they were aliens, then vanished through the hole.

"I need to thank you." Yami swallowed his pride, "We wouldn't have thought to look under the ice if you hadn't tried it."

Bakura didn't look as smug as Yami thought he would, "I shouldn't have left when she told me."

Yami paused to consider this, "Are you helping her because you want to, or because your host asked you to?"

Bakura examined him, "And what if I said that I was helping her because I want to?"

"I'd ask why, when you seem to like causing trouble."

"Unlike you, she has nothing I need."

"Then why are you…"

"Hey!"

The police arrived, Joey in tow and both Yami and the dark Bakura retreated in favour of their hikaris.

"This is Officer Shi. We urgently need an ambulance at the Day Care, yes, a victim of the attack earlier that we've only just found." He looked at the three boys, "Ten minutes? Fine."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Jamie's in a bad way, the Day Care's been attacked and all the Pokemon are back with Team Galactic, what does this mean and why is Bakura befriending Jamie. Shall I tell you a secret? Na, I won't . Muahahahahahahaha.**

Oh, I almost forgot, I'm writting side stories for this series, in the story 'The Day Care of Domino', at www(.)fanfiction(.)net/s/4527306/1/ please remember to remove the brackets.


	6. Oniichan

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by ****Kazuki Takahashi, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, I however, do not own either, if I did, I wouldn't be worried about money for University.**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Yugi and Yami were up on the roof of the Kame Game Shop, alone.

Jamie was due out of hospital tomorrow, all her tests having checked out clear and, after six days, most of the worst side effects wearing off.

'_She was lucky that the pool is kept at 10 degrees c.' _Yami said quietly.

Yugi nodded, _"The Doctor said if the water hadn't been so cold, she would have been brain dead." _Yugi's wavering voice made his yami look at him sharply.

'_Yugi?'_

"_Do you think it's coincidence that the guys working with Team Galactic were wearing the same robes as Bandit Keith?"_

Ah, that was what was worrying him, that Jamie might have nearly died because someone was after them.

'_Yugi…" _Yami sighed, "_No, I don't think it's coincidence, but Team Galactic are Jamie's enemies, they would have known who she was. She wasn't trapped under the ice because she's our friend.'_

"_If our enemy is working with Jamie's then things are a lot more dangerous then we thought."_

'_We still haven't told Jamie about the Museum.' _

"_We still haven't told her a lot of things, I don't think we should keep things a secret from her anymore, Bakura's told her more then we have."_

'_We got distracted, Tea took Joey and Tristan to the museum today, they know now.'_

"_You still can't get your head round it."_

'_Not really.' _Yami admitted, _'How would you take hearing that you're a five thousand year old Pharaoh?'_

"_Yami, I'm the reincarnation of a five thousand year old Pharaoh."_ Yugi pointed out._ "I was just as surprised as you were."_

Yami snorted as Yugi shifted on the mat, trying to get comfortable on the roof tiles, _'So our life is weird.'_

"_I don't think weird covers it, you're a powerful Pharaoh who saved the world five thousand years ago, who was trapped in the Millennium Puzzle when you died, and now you share my body. I'm half a soul that is the reincarnation of you, and we have a Pokemon Trainer from another dimension living with us."_

'_A little more then weird then.'_

"_Yami…"_ Yugi paused, sighed, stretched, and settled. _"Remember that whatever you decide I'm going to be with you, every step of the way."_

'_We'll sign up for Battle City tomorrow.'_ Yami said firmly, _'But Yugi, I want you to know something, I'm still proud to be your partner, just because I want to know who I am, it doesn't change that.'_

Yami sensed some of Yugi's nervousness fade away and smiled at his hikari. _"Joey'll want to enter."_

'_I think Jamie will too.'_

"_Why?"_

'_Our enemy and her enemies are working together, the best way to get at them is to enter the Tournament and face down our enemy to find out where her enemies are hiding.'_

"_I don't know which is worse. Our enemy or hers."_

'_Both are equally dangerous. They have Pokemon, who are powerful and have special abilities. He has a Millennium Item at his disposal, one that can control minds.'_

"_That's not the most reassuring thing you've ever said."_

'_I wish I could offer more help.' _Yami blocked the second half of the thought from Yugi, _But I wasn't the one who faced him down last time. I nearly lost you to that fire. I don't want to run that risk again._

"_You're here, by my side, I'm fine, just a little worried." _Yami wasn't the only one blocking, _I don't want to think about what would have happened if I hadn't finished the Puzzle, or if Bakura hadn't known Jamie was under the water… We have to fight, side by side, none of us are strong enough alone, but… I don't want to run the risk of my friends getting hurt because of us._

'_Yugi…'_

"_Yami..."_ Yugi sighed, _"Go on."_

'_No, you first.'_

"_We have to fight him first. If it comes to a choice, we can't let him hurt our friends."_

'_I agree.' But I won't let him hurt you again either._

"_Your turn."_

'_Nothing, you beat me to it.'_

Yugi smiled and fell asleep. Yami settled on the roof, glad for once that the awkward tiles didn't dig into him, and gazed at the stars, wondering if they'd changed in five thousand years.

Of course he didn't remember what they looked like and it was a different portion of sky he was seeing but… it had been almost a week since the 'date' with Tea and he still wasn't used to the fact he was five thousand years old and had been a Pharaoh.

He'd known he'd been trapped in darkness a long time, but five thousand years?

Yugi murmured and rolled over.

Yami sighed and faded into the Puzzle, time to let Yugi get some sleep.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Jamie was back at the Day Care by 2pm the next day.

Somehow Yugi wasn't surprised that Yami was the one who walked there with her, though Jamie didn't understand why Aisu, who normally treated Yugi with the same love and affection that she treated her Trainer, was ignoring the teen now, but Yugi didn't say anything about the fact the Pharaoh was watching over the Aspiring Champion and Yami didn't give anything away, even hiding his presence by expending magic to maintain the appearance of being Yugi.

Kaiba already had a team working on repairs, and when Jamie blanched as she walked in, backed up by Joey, the group of friends could understand why.

This had been the one place she'd felt at home in a world so very different to her own. This had been a small section of the Pokemon World and now it was ruined.

"There was no need for you to come, Miss Francis." One of the workmen said, bowing to the group, "Mr Kaiba's fixing it up."

"I just… needed to see it." Jamie gulped, "Where there any Pokemon left, any at all?"

"I'm sorry, Team Galactic took them all."

Yami watched Jamie tense up, clenching her hands into fists. The worker went back to fixing the wall and turned to who she thought was Yugi. "I'm entering Battle City."

"Are you sure?"

"I heard your description of the robes of the guy who stole the Puzzle. Your enemy is working with mine and they will be at that Tournament. I am entering."

"Jamie, you nearly died."

"I know that." Jamie snapped, "It's not the first time it's happened, why do you think my Pokemon knew what to do? Team Galactic stole those Pokemon back and they'll turn them into violent monsters again, I want to protect those Pokemon. I'm entering this Tournament to get them back."

"Stole those Pokemon back?" Yami questioned. Then, "Bakura gave you them, didn't he?"

Jamie bit her lower lip.

"You knowingly took Pokemon from a thief?"

"I wasn't sure they were stolen to start with. Besides, I'd rather Bakura steal them for me, then Team Galactic attack more people with them."

"Does Kaiba know?"

"What Kaiba doesn't know…"

Joey smirked, "He thinks this many Pokemon are Rifting? For a CEO, he sure is stupid."

Yami had to agree if Kaiba really was oblivious, but he suspected Kaiba was aware that this many Pokemon weren't Rifting and he knew something was going on.

"Oh, by the way Yuge, I'm entering too."

"Thought so." Yami had to remember not to smirk. "Shall we go register?"

"Miss Francis!" One of the workmen called from the Staff Room, "You'd better come see this."

"Wait outside for me?" Jamie asked.

The group nodded and Jamie ran over to the door, entering and closing it behind her.

"I wonder what's up." Joey said, leaning against the door from the outside.

Jamie came out to them with a huge grin on her face.

"So?"

"There were two, full, Pokeballs on the shelves in the store room." Jamie beamed.

"So who was in them?"

"Come on out guys!" Jamie threw them up in the air.

A large, blue scaly tailed, big red eyed, serpentine Pokemon and a large, blue and white Pokemon with a horn, white cloud like ears and blue, shiny balls on it's tail and under it's chin.

"Milotic and Dragonair?" Joey yelped half a second before an excitable Dragonair wrapped herself around one of her favourite humans and Joey ended up with a Dragon Type body wrap.

Milotic gazed at them for a second and curled up, going to sleep.

"Dragonair really likes you." Jamie grinned.

"I dunno why." Joey looked confused as Dragonair unwrapped herself and flew in a circle above his head, as if to say 'my human'.

"Red Eyes Black." Tristan murmured, "Perhaps you're just good with Dragons. Jamie trusted you before she trusted anyone else."

"Jamie's not a dragon." Tea pointed out.

"Ummmm." Jamie tried not to laugh.

"You're human aren't you?" Tea said, accusingly.

"Mostly. Remember that odd thing in the tests?"

"The extra genes or something." Tea nodded.

"Ok, I'm blood type A+ with PKNE04." Jamie explained, "PKNE is the gene in Pokemon which determines type. Some humans have it, it's quite rare and there's 17 or 18 different types of PKNE. Dragon is one of the rarest, but Dark and Flying are a lot rarer."

"So you're A+ with?"

"Dragon."

"Told you Dragons like you." Tristan laughed.

"Can we just go and sign up please. I have to get to the hospital. It's Serenity's operation tomorrow and I promised I'd stay the night." Joey pleaded.

Jamie grinned, handing Joey Dragonair's Pokeball, "Keep Dragonair with you, Serenity'll like her, even if she can't see properly. They're good at making people relax."

"I don't have a belt like you, where do I keep her Pokeball?"

"Watch." Jamie tapped the button on the large Pokeball and it shrunk. "Now it goes in your pocket, just be careful not to press the button when she's inside, it'll enlarge the Pokeball and possibly send her out. You'd have a rather big hole in your trousers. Some people used to get necklaces made for a Pokeball, but I don't have one." She turned to Milotic, "Now what am I going to do about you?"

There was no response since the Milotic was sleeping and Jamie sighed, holding the Pokeball out and pressing the button, "Milotic, return."

In a burst of red light, the Pokemon vanished into the ball.

"Registration then?" Joey asked.

The group nodded and they waited until Aisu had been sent out and then the group headed for the local Tournament registration office.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"I can't believe how heavy these things are!" Joey was complaining, forgetting for the moment that he'd nearly not gotten in because of a technical glitch.

"I know, I thought my belt was heavy." Jamie agreed, shifting the weight on her arm. "How much wiring must be in this thing?"

"Too much." Yugi agreed, lifting his left arm, and feeling the weight of the wire filled metal and plastic and the two projectors it shot.

"How are we supposed to Duel with these things? Beat people around the head?" Jamie asked.

"Wanna test it?" Yugi asked.

"I can't." Joey said mournfully, looking at the clock, "I promised I'd spend the night with Serenity, it's her operation tomorrow."

"We know you haven't stopped talking about it." Jamie grinned, "Go, take Dragonair with you."

"Going, I'll phone you guys after it's over."

"Go." Jamie shooed him out, "I'll duel Yugi."

Joey grabbed his bag and dove out the door.

"So how do we activate these things?"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Hey Wheeler."

Joey paused, how did he just know that taking a short cut had been a bad idea? "You know," He said as he examined to two in front of him, "If you're with the group that nearly killed my friends, I suggest you run now."

"We're not going anywhere and neither are you."

Joey could hear footsteps coming up behind him. He wasn't stupid, he knew he was being surrounded. "I have better things to do tonight then deal with you losers."

"Unless you Duel us, under Battle City Rules, you'll have to cancel your plans."

_Hmmm, go see Serenity, or brake my promise and duel? Stupid question, _"Dragonair, help me out!" Joey sent out the Dragon Type, silently thanking Jamie for lending her to him.

The weather changed as Dragonair glowed, turning into a heavy downpour as she reared up and used Twister to blow the enemy back, away from **HER** human.

"Wow." Joey was suitably impressed. "Let's get out of here."

Joey would have run, but Dragonair had other ideas, wrapping around her human and flying up, taking Joey with her and causing him to scream like a girl when she tossed him up in the air and caught him so he could ride her safely.

Once he'd calmed down, she let him direct her to the hospital.

A window opened and a woman gawked at him. "Joe…Joseph?"

"Mother." Joey's voice was cold as he stepped down from Dragonair, onto the windowsill. Then his eyes lit up as he caught sight of the teen inside. "Hi Serenity."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

It was the first time she'd managed to get her Seven Tail Fox on the field.

It was a very difficult monster to get out, requiring her Fox Shrine field card, which allowed her to summon fox monsters in the magic and trap card slots, and she had to keep one of each of her seven level four or lower foxes on the field and pull Polymerisation.

The card was beautiful, a Ninetales like fox with purple fur and silver markings, ancient and twisting, a pattern she recognised from the deeper and darker caves of Seafoam Island. How a Duel Monster from this world had gotten markings like that was beyond her, but she felt drawn to the monster.

It was powerful too, at 3900/3100 and Divine, it could half it's attack to attack the enemy directly, which was exactly what she'd just done to Yugi.

Yugi had been about to counter when the phone had gone off and he'd been distracted, so he'd taken the multicoloured blast to the chest, knocking him over the sofa.

"Muto Residence, Solomon speaking…" Grandpa Muto answered the phone as Jamie helped Yugi up.

"Sorry Yugi."

"I'm not out yet." Yugi retorted, "I have 1250 left."

"Yugi, Joey wants to talk to you."

"Joey?" Yugi was justifiably startled, scrambling into the kitchen with Jamie on his tail. "You alright? Attacked?" There was a pause then Yugi looked at Jamie, "Joey says thanks for lending him Dragonair."

"He can keep her if she's willing."

"If Dragonair'll stick with you, Jamie says to keep her." Yugi relayed, "Robed creeps?" Yugi's surprised exclamation turned into a low growl, surprising Jamie. "They probably didn't know you had her. Do you want to speak to Jamie?"

Yugi handed over the phone, pacing as Jamie spoke with the teen on the other end, "Hey Joey, glad you're ok." She paused, "You want me at the hospital?" She looked at Solomon who nodded at her, "Grandpa says yes. Why? I understand, seven better then one if they show up. I'll fly in on Iblis, have a window open for me. I'm passing the phone back to Yugi now."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Yugi was asking, struggling with Yami who wanted to go with Jamie who was getting directions from Solomon, "She's leaving now, I'm sure. We'll see you in the morning, ok?" There was a pause, "I'll be careful. I have Yami, he's scarier then any Pokemon. Ok maybe not scarier then Tsunami. Bye. I will. I promise. Bye."

Yugi put the phone down and retreated to the living room. His holo-emitters were still projecting his Dark Magician, but Jamie's, along with the impressive form of her Seven Tail Fox, were gone, along with her belt, her backpack, and her trainers.

'_I don't like this.'_

"_Me either."_

'_Why Battle City rules?' _

"_Were they after Joey's Red Eyes? It is really rare."_

'_I dunno but we should have gone with Jamie.'_

"_We can't, we don't have any Pokemon, it's not safe."_

Yami's grumbling gave him a headache as they paced and waited for a phone call, telling them Jamie had arrived safely.

"Yugi? Is this about the attack on the centre?" Solomon asked.

Yugi nodded tensely. "It's the same guys."

Solomon frowned, "Shouldn't we tell the police."

"Joey already did." Yugi lied, hoping Solomon wouldn't push it.

Solomon hoped he was wrong, but something screamed that Yugi was lying to him.

The phone rang and Yugi jumped to answer it.

"Jamie?" Yugi seemed to relax, "Good. Stay safe ok? I know, I know, not your big brother. Just promise me. Good. See you in the morning."

Yugi put the phone down and turned around, to find a rather frustrated looking Solomon looking at him, "Yugi, I want to truth please."

Yugi bit his lip, sighed and nodded, "Alright."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Serenity, this is Jamie."

The small, icy blue haired teen looked at the taller, brunette girl and smiled softly. "So you're the little sister I've heard so much about."

"Sorry, can you come closer?" The girl's brown eyes were dull, slightly cloudy and Jamie looked at Joey who smiled sadly at her.

"Sorry, here." Jamie took the girl's hand, coming closer, "I'm Jamie Francis, of Littleroot Town, your brother helped save my life."

Serenity's gaze turned into idol worship as she turned to her brother, then a confused frown passed over the girl's face, "Where's Littleroot Town?"

"Mum, we can look after Serenity. You promised you'd let me spend the night with my sister." Joey murmured as he let the Trainer talk to his sister, wondering how much Jamie would trust the girl with, "You took away ten years, you owe us this much."

"But…" It was obvious the Pokemon had thrown Joey's mother as she looked from the window to the balls on Jamie's belt, to the large blue and white creature now curled up on the windowsill.

"Mum."

"You'd better look after her."

"I swear I'd give my life before I let anything happen to Serenity."

Joey's mother watched the Trainer and her daughter interact, realising for the Trainer's maturity, she was only a year older, two at most, then her daughter. "Alright." She turned to Serenity, "I'll come by before your operation, alright?"

"Ok Mum." Serenity said brightly, before she got back to asking Jamie about Pokemon.

"I think Joey should get a lesson on Pokemon Training." Serenity said finally. "I mean you did say he could keep Dragonair, didn't you?"

"I think I'll give him one at a later date, you and your brother have a lot of catching up to do." Jamie grinned, liking Joey's little sister, "I'm gonna catch some shut eye, I was just about to beat Yugi when your brat of a brother called."

"No way." Joey protested, "No one beats Yugi."

"I had Seven Tail Fox out!"

"He would have won."

Serenity giggled, "Are you talking about Duel Monsters?"

"Yeap." Jamie nodded, "Do you know the game?"

"No, I've never had the chance to see a game."

"I think we should introduce her." Joey grinned.

"Please." Serenity pleaded with Jamie.

"Ok." Jamie found Joey's grin was infectious.

"Kaida." Serenity called as she sat on her bed to watch.

To Jamie's surprise, Dragonair's head came up and brown eyes watched the girl on the bed.

"Kaida, here girl."

Dragonair shot across the room, wrapping around Serenity, causing Jamie to go for her belt, before unwrapping and settling on the bed.

"I think Serenity just nicknamed your Dragonair."

Joey grinned. "Kaida's not such a bad name, a little too close to Kaiba, but it means little dragon or something like that."

Jamie giggled, "Well, shall we introduce your sister to Duel Monsters?"

"Duel Monsters 101 coming up."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Wow, Joey has a Dragonair, named Kaida, the bad guys are trying to attack Joey now too, and Yugi and Yami still haven't gotten around to tell Jamie have they? **

**Oh, PKNE and Chosen are things from my Pokemon Univese, I didn't originally plan for Jamie to come from that verse, but she seems to have taken on the roles firml in my mind. Her whole attitude and behavour screams PKNE04 to me, the Dragons seem to be the most stubborn.**


	7. And So It Starts

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by ****Kazuki Takahashi, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, I however, do not own either, if I did, I wouldn't be worried about money for University.**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

The sun was rising over Domino as Jamie took to the skies for the last time before the Tournament started.

She was actually out looking for trouble, as requested by her boss, Seto Kaiba, but she didn't really expect anyone to be moving yet. Neither of the two trouble making groups were particularly stupid, and it wouldn't be very smart to be moving around and causing trouble before the Duellists were up and about and looking for battles.

"Izard!"

She looked down over her Pokemon's left shoulder, and smiled slightly as she saw a crowd gathering already, the boys would be there soon, and she'd join them once she was changed, having no great urge to spend the day in her flight suit.

"It'll be us down there soon, Iblis." She said, "We just need to over fly the docks and we'll be done."

"Izard!" The huge red dragonlike Pokemon turned in mid air, swooping in the morning air and beating his wings hard to reach the docks quickly. Jamie knew this wasn't his favourite time of day to fly, the weather promised to be warm and gorgeous, and the thermals later would make flying easy, but unfortunately for them, by the time the thermals were that good Jamie would be all tied up in the Tournament.

The docks were clear, it looked like the shippers weren't around yet, crates and cranes just lying around, there was no sign of anyone, just a couple of fishermen, including some odd guy in blue who was taking an early morning swim.

She would have swooped down and checked on the warehouses , but her Poketech alarm went off, warning her that if she didn't head back to get changed now, she'd be late.

"To the Game Shop Iblis, it's time to go Galactic hunting."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Yugi was worried.

It was five minutes from the start of Battle City and neither Joey or Jamie were here yet.

He knew Jamie was busy with her over flight, but she should have been here by now and Joey had left a good half hour before he had, they should have been here by now.

Yami was pacing, stopping for a minute to look at the clock, and then resuming his watchful gaze over the competitors.

Neither of them had been happy for Jamie to go out this morning, she'd promised she'd meet them ten minutes before the tournament started, having been 'requested' to do an over flight of Domino by her boss and they'd wanted Joey to sleep over last night, but Joey hadn't, since he'd wanted to spend some more time with Serenity.

"Yugi!" Yami wheeled around sharply, then grinned, "I knew you'd be here."

"Hello Mai, ready for the Tournament."

Mai just snorted at the stupid question, "You sense it don't you?"

Yami's smile vanished, "None of these Duellists are to be taken lightly."

"They wouldn't be in the Tournament if they could be." Mai pointed out.

"True. It's going to be challenging." Yami agreed, his next few words cut off by the noisy arrival of a Charizard who landed just feet from them.

The girl who dismounted looked a little rushed, Duel Disk on one arm and belt with Pokeballs at her waist.

Mai examined her as she returned her creature to it's ball and joined Yugi, bowing to Mai and offering her hand, "Hi Yugi." She nodded to him first. "I'm Jamie Francis."

"Mai Valentine." Mai shook her hand, examining the young teen. She had to be younger then Yugi and Joey, but Mai wasn't sure by how much, or where the girl fit in in the group, since she hadn't been at Duellist Kingdom, then she paused. "You're the kid who works for Kaiba, right?"

"That's right." Jamie nodded. "I look after the Pokemon belonging to Kaiba Corp."

Further discussion was terminated as Kaiba appeared on the big screen and announced the timings.

They had five minutes before the Duels started.

There was still no sign of Joey.

"You'll be careful, won't you?" Yami asked Jamie, sensing Yugi's worry over what Jamie was planning to do during the Tournament.

"I could ask you the same thing. You have my Pokegear number, right?"

It was weird, but the Pokegear seemed to be able to access the Kaiba Corp network. Of course, they weren't aware that this was because when they'd had Jamie leave some of her stuff with them to help them with some research for their new game, they'd hacked into the software and modified the settings until it had.

"No mobile phone." Yami pointed out.

"You have payphones, right?"

Yami snorted and nodded.

"Be careful."

"You too."

Jamie took off in the direction that most of the crowd was heading, and Mai turned to Yami, "What was that about?"

"Oi!" The two wheeled around to see Joey glaring at a guy sat at a table, "I want a rematch!"

Yami quickly examined the guy and growled at what he saw.

"Yugi, I'll see you later." Mai said, wondering what the deal was but wanting to get to a good spot before the battles started.

Yami nodded and ran over to Joey's side. "You alright?"

"That guy jumped me was a couple of Team Galactic members and took my Red Eyes!"

"What? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, Kaida needs some rest but I recalled her before she was too badly injured." Joey growled, "Hey! I'm talking to you!" He snapped at the guy in the robe who stood up.

"You have nothing of interest to me." The guy snorted, "We Rare Hunters are only interested in the Rarest cards."

"Then I'll fight you." Yami said, deciding on the spot, "As soon as the horns blare. If I win, you'll give me Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon."

"Hmmm." The guy examined Yugi for a moment, "And in exchange, if you lose, I'm taking you Dark Magician."

"Yuge, no, I can't let you risk your Dark Magician."

"I've already made up my mind Joey."

Joey frowned. "Alright." He stepped away as the horns blared.

Battle City had begun.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Hey, you!"

Jamie paused and turned to look at the one calling her, it was a kid, about her age, but he was in the robes of one of _**them**_.

"I have a name." Jamie wasn't whether to go before her belt or her deck.

"Yeah, it's not important." The kid shrugged it off, You have something I want."

"My Pokemon or my cards?" Jamie snorted, "I doubt I have anything of interest to you in my intermediate level deck, so it must be my Pokemon."

"Actually, my friend here," He waved towards the shadows of a near by alley, where a Team Galactic member was hiding, "Is after your Pokemon, including that Dragon your friend escaped with this morning. I'm after your Queen of Foxes."

"I don't…" Jamie paused as a memory flashed by, and she smirked, "You do realise there's no way I'm handing over Seven Tail Fox."

"You have to, when you lose, by the rules laid down by your boss."

"I've been training with the King of Games, I won't lose."

"Then you accept my challenge?"

"It's time to Duel."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"All these cards are marked!" Yami snarled, silently thanking the Gods that they hadn't had Joey's Red Eyes long enough to soil it with their dirty tricks.

He was a cheat!" Joey could well understand his friend's rage, as Yami tore up the marked cards, cheating was something a true Duellist would never do, and it angered everyone when people won Duels against true Duellists by cheating.

"Not anymore." Yami said, as he tossed up the torn cards into the air, letting them get scattered by the wind.

"I lost… I failed…" The Rare Hunter was talking to himself as he got to his feet, pleading with his 'Master' for forgiveness. Finally screaming as the Millennium Symbol appeared on his forehead. "We meet again Pharaoh." The voice no longer belonged just to the Rare Hunter in front of them, there was another, deeper and infinitely more dangerous voice there too. "Remember me, Pharaoh?" 'He' asked, then 'his' voice took on a more mocking tone, "Actually perhaps you don't, you were trapped in the Puzzle when I Duelled little Yugi."

Yami growled, remembering just how close he'd come to losing Yugi that day, and now he was speaking with the man responsible, through his minion.

"Congratulations on defeating my minion, though he was the weakest Duellist in my group. My other minions will prove much more formidable."

"Yuge, what is with this freak show?" Joey asked, Yami didn't answer, wanting answers himself.

"Pharaoh, I've waited for you for years, finally, after all this time I will destroy you."

Yami found himself with a Joey between him and the Rare Hunter before either of them really thought about it, Joey reaching for his back pocket where he'd stashed Kaida's Pokeball after the escape this morning.

"I won't allow my other Rare Hunters to fail me like this one did. I have little time for his kind of foolishness so I have taken over his body and trapped his mind in the Shadow Realm. I am in control." Saying this, the one in control had the guy some really freaky dance and then face them again.

"How do you control him?" Yami asked, hoping Yugi's guess about the guy's Millennium Item was wrong.

"Each of the Millennium Items contains it's own unique powers, so Mind Control is a simple task with my Millennium Rod."

"No good can come of that power." Yami growled, as Joey retreated slightly, knowing that no matter how strong his Dragon type was, when it came to a battle of Millennium Items, Yugi would have more luck then he would. _"He must be the great evil Isuzu spoke about."_ Yugi said, though he was more thinking out loud then talking to Yami.

"Allow me to introduce myself, remember my name. Marik."

"Marik." Yami repeated, disliking the taste of the name on his tongue, "What is it you want from me, Marik?"

"I want what belongs to me and I'll take it using the strength of the Egyptian God Cards."

"Egyptian What?"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"You should give up now girl, you have five hundred life points left, there's no way you can turn this around now."

Jamie looked from her hand to the field and understood him to be correct, she couldn't win with the cards she had now, but it was her turn and her turn to draw…

What was it Yugi had taught her? Believe in her deck, like she did in her Pokemon and it would never let her down…

"Please, help me." She whispered as she drew. Then a calm smile graced her featured, "It's not me the Sun is setting on." Jamie grinned at her opponent, "I set a card face down, and I end my turn."

"You can't win." The Rare Hunter grinned, "You have no monsters on the field and only two cards face down on the field, I summon Gearfried, the Iron Knight and attack you, with Warrior Dei Grepher!"

The huge warrior monster attacked.

"I activate Waboku!"

"Activate Dust Tornado!"

Her Waboku was blown away and the attack continued.

"Setting Sun!" Jamie bellowed as the attack struck home.

Everything on the field exploded as the sun suddenly set in the sky above them.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" Jamie laughed in relief and delight, "Waboku was a decoy for me to find out if it was safe for me to use Setting Sun!"

"What does it do?"

"Destroys every card on the field." Jamie said. _Now I just need a bit of sheer dumb luck._

"Fine, it's your move."

_Please, please, please, please…_ "Yes!" Jamie cheered, "Activate Reincarnate Fox Spirit!"

"What?"

Jamie's Third Eye Fox, a Light attribute, Beast/Effect card, it's pinky purple fur shining in the light, returned to the field from the Graveyard.

"How? I destroyed that fox!"

"Reincarnate Fox Spirit allows me to bring back one fox card from the Graveyard, and I choose the most powerful I have that has been destroyed, he can gain 1000 attack points during the Battle Phase, and I chose to activate this power, and attack you directly!"

The Rare Hunter back stepped, as Third Eye Fox grew to 3600, and launched a blast of psychic energy straight at him and his 3200 life points.

He hit zero and fell over backwards.

The holograms faded, including the fake sunset, as he sat up. "I…I lost."

"Hand over your Map Card, and your rarest."

"I…can't lose." Jamie stiffened as the Team Galactic grunt stepped out of the shade, "If Master finds out…"

"Hand them over." Jamie insisted, reaching for her Pokeballs. "And I have a bone to pick with you." She glared at the Grunt.

"The Boss said you'd be around." The Grunt glared back, "In fact he had a bet on with our new ally that you'd be out hunting us." She booted her 'ally', "Hand 'em over, I want a shot at her."

"Not here." Jamie said quickly, "There's too many people."

The Grunt smirked, as his 'ally' grumbled and handed her the cards, one map card and Belial – Marquis of Darkness, a Fiend/Effect, Dark Attribute monster with 2800/2400 and 8 stars.

"I'm Galactic Grunt Roslie, I challenge you to a Pokemon Battle," The grunt said, "As an Aspiring Champion, you have to accept."

"I'm Jamelia Francis, Aspiring Champion of the Sinnoh League, I accept your challenge, but I refuse to battle where we could hurt innocent people."

"Then let's move to the park."

"No." Jamie shook her head, "There are too many Duellists around." She looked around, growling as she saw people gathering, waiting for something else. "Everyone move back, if you want another show you're about to get it, but only if you move to the sides of the street."

They moved alright, quickly and with a little fear. There had been many Pokemon Battles since the Trainers had been dumped in this world by Palkia's Spacial Rends, and there had been injuries when there had been no one to protect those who didn't have Pokemon.

"How many?"

"I have two Pokemon, that Dragonair you gave away was mine."

"Was is the operative." Jamie snarled, "When that Pokemon came to me, she was scared of humans and in bad condition, Joey's a million times better then you as a Trainer for Kaida, and he doesn't even have his licence!"

"Go, Seviper!" Roslie snarled, throwing out her Pokeball.

Jamie pulled out her Pokedex, and pointed it at the serpent, "Seviper." It said, "The Fang Snake Pokemon, for many generations it had feuded with ZANGOOSE. It whets it's bladed tail on rocks for battle."

"A serpent, huh?" Jamie asked, "Then let's go, Shade!"

The huge black, Bite Pokemon, appeared with a Howl. "We're not afraid of you."

"Then let battle begin! Seviper, Poison Tail!"

"Shade! Agility, then Dark Pulse!"

The canine dodged, then unleashed a wave of dark energy that slammed into the snake, knocking it backwards.

"Toxic! Poison Tail!"

"Agility! Take Down!"

Shade dove under the poison and slammed into the snake, but was clobbered by it's tail, wounding the canine's leg and knocking out the snake.

"One down." Jamie snarled, "Shade, return and rest!"

The Mightyena barked in surprise, but vanished into his Pokeball.

"Afraid?" Roslie smirked.

"No way." Jamie laughed, "Next?"

"Go! Drapion!"

The huge Poison/Dark scorpion appeared.

"Go, Iblis!"

The Charizard roared and used Flamethrower, straight up in the air.

"Cross Poison!"

"Fly!"

Iblis easily avoided the attack by taking off. Drapion was heavy and slow, it was no match in speed and agility for the lighter and faster Fire/Flying type.

"Pin Missile!"

"Flamethrower!"

The pin missile hit, but was shrugged off, the Bug type attack not even making the Charizard flinch. Drapion, however, looked chargrilled when the attack died.

"Poison Fang!"

"But it won't hit…" Jamie screeched as Drapion moved surprisingly quickly, and bit into her arm.

Iblis roared, outraged, and blasted the Drapion with Fire Blast, causing it to let go and be blasted back into its Trainer, who was chargrilled along with it.

Jamie knelt, holding her bleeding arm, trying not to whimper with the pain. Iblis chased the Grunt and Rare Hunter away as a couple of crowd members closed in.

"Are you ok Miss?"

"Just… just need a bandage." Jamie said, feeling slightly light headed, but attempting to shake it off, "Once I've bandaged up my arm, I have to go after them."

"You should go to hospital."

"No!" Jamie felt a bit better, or so she told herself. "I've got to stop them."

"Go to the hospital." One of the crowd members said, "Surely you can spare the time, the Tournament's finals aren't till…"

"No." Jamie pulled her black backpack off of her back and dug out her first aid kit, "I just knew I'd need this." She bandaged up her arm and dug through a small pocket of her backpack. "Damn, I thought I had more then one of those left…"

"Anything we can get you?"

"No, just a berry for my Pokemon." Jamie said, holding up a Pecha Berry, small and pink, sending out her Mightyena, who was a little unsteady but still on his feet. "Here, eat up and we'll go hunting."

"Ena!" Shade roared, and after eating the berry, roared at Iblis, who swooped down and scooped Jamie up, startling the Trainer, and following the canine from the ground.

"Iblis, I'm not an invalid!" Jamie protested.

"Izard! Char! IzardChar!"

"I'm being careful, I'm fine!"

"Izard!"

"Fine, I promise I'll get myself checked over. Tomorrow."

"Izard!"

"I wasn't poisoned."

"Zard."

"No I wasn't. I'm fine aren't I? I'm not sick."

"Izard Zard!"

"I promise I'll get myself checked over if I feel sick."

"Zard."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Man that was weird, I knew that guy was a big creep, but who knew he was just a front for an even bigger creep?" Joey asked, once the Rare Hunter Marik was speaking through collapsed.

"Here you go Joey." Yami offered the teen back his Red Eyes Black Dragon.

"Na Yuge." Joey declined, citing wanting to have Yugi's back for a change as the reason for not taking back his best and favourite card, "And any way," He said, "I have a Dragon at my back. You should have one too."

"Thank you Joey." Yami smiled, "Actually we both have at least one Dragon at our back."

Joey laughed, "I wouldn't say that to her face. Between us, we'll whup this Marik creep and his Rare Hunter goon squad so hard they won't know what hit them, they'll be sorry they ever decided to mess with us."

"You're a true friend Joey, and together we'll be able to defeat any evil that comes our way."

"All right, which of you Duellists wants a piece?" Joey asked turning and challenging all of Battle City, arms raised, though there wasn't really anyone around to hear. No one wanted to be the next victim… sorry, opponent… of the King of Games. "Just step up so Joey can knock ya down!"

The two friends split up, going in different directions.

"_Watch yourself Marik." _Joey thought as he walked away without looking back, _"Yugi and I are gunna be trailing you every step of the way, the Rare Hunters have become the Rare Hunted."_

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Well, Battle City is underway and things are looking insane already. Millennium Items and Pokemon and Egyptian Gods, oh no… **

**Surely the crazy can't get much worse…**

**Can it?**

…


	8. Deals and Near Death Experiances

**Disclaimer: - Yu-Gi-Oh! Is owned by ****Kazuki Takahashi, Pokemon is owned by Nintendo, I however, do not own either, if I did, I wouldn't be worried about money for University.**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Three map cards, five Rare Hunters and eight Team Galactic grunts later, Jamie was trying to outfly a bunch of grunts who seemed intent on her capture.

"Iblis, Flamethrower!" She had to hold on tight as the Charizard writhed in midair, getting a better position and blasted the enemy Pidgeot with flame, causing it to fall from the sky.

"Where are they?" Jamie growled, trying to catch sight of any of her friends from her vantage point in the skies, wishing she hadn't stopped at the Day Care Centre to pick up a Pecha Berry for herself and all too aware that it wasn't only her the Grunts were going after.

"Hey, Francis!"

Iblis wheeled around, taking Jamie with him.

Oh you had to be kidding…

A Galactic Grunt, with a Duel Disk, was riding a Staraptor.

"You can't be serious!" Jamie complained, "You'd break the emitters! They don't fly!"

"Then come out of the air and fight me like a real Champion, unless you're scared?"

"Me?" Jamie was contemptuous, "Afraid of you? Yeah, right."

"Then stop running and fight me."

"So you can capture me? No thanks."

"A battle, on a rooftop," The Grunt said, "Duel Monsters only. You have to fight us, we have Wheeler and Gardener."

"Then I don't have much choice do I?" Jamie growled, "But how do I know they'll be safe when I win?"

"If you win, you mean." The Grunt snorted, out of range of an attack, but close enough for her to see the really irritating smirk, "And they'll be fine, Marik's got plans for them and we've got Grunts going after the others too."

"What plans?" Jamie snarled. "Which others?"

"You'll find out and the ones currently outside the city."

_Tristan, Serenity…_ "I accept, on the grounds that if I win, you let me leave to protect Tristan and Serenity."

"When you lose, you're coming with us."

Jamie growled but accepted, following the Grunt to rooftop, dismounting gracefully and activating her Duel Disk, shuffling her deck before she put it in the correct slot.

"Ready?" The Grunt grinned.

"Three map cards!" Jamie held them up.

"I only have two."

"Then that's all I'm risking."

"Deal."

"Let's Duel!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Actually the Grunt had lied.

Currently Joey was fighting Mako Tsunami at the aquarium, a battle over water that gave all the advantages to Mako's monsters.

It had been completely in Mako's favour to start with, but Joey was turning it around slowly, even defeating Mako's Legendary Fisherman.

However, Mako had just summoned the Fortress Whale.

Joey was actually wondering about his ability to win the Duel…

In the crowd, Tea, Tristan and Mr Muto were wondering the same thing.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"You're in my way." Marik growled, stopping his motorcycle and taking off his helmet, reaching for his Millennium Rod at the sight of the intruder's Millennium Ring.

"You have something I seek." The Millennium Ring glowed.

"The Millennium Ring!" Marik was shocked, he hadn't known there was another item wielder in the area.

"It seems you're the dark presence I've been sensing." Bakura glared. "And you're the one who threatened the life of one of my toys."

"Toys?" Marik asked.

"Jamelia Francis is mine, I have been playing with her since she got here. Do not interfere." Bakura growled, remembering all too clearly the state she had been in when she'd tried to find a Pecha Berry at the Day Care. "The rest of the geek squad you can play with all you like, but Francis belongs to me."

"Your 'toy' is standing in my way."

"She doesn't know any better, but hand over the Millennium Rod and I'll make sure the problem stops."

"You are somewhat familiar with the ancient ways, why do you want my item?"

"If you must know, I'm a collector of sorts, and once I possess all seven Millennium Items, I'll control ancient powers strong enough to rule the entire world. In the meantime, I have my toy living with another item bearer, ready for when I need to make my move, and she's more on my side then on his. I'll ask you one more time, hand over your Millennium Rod and leave my plaything alone. From what I gather, you have plenty of your own."

Marik stared at the teen, contemplating Bakura' knowledge of the ancient items and reminding himself that he didn't seem to know about the secrets that only Marik, Obeon and his Marik's sister, Isuzu, knew. "My name is Marik."

"I thought so." Bakura snorted, "Jamelia mentioned it before."

"Would it change your mind if I told you I have exclusive knowledge of certain secrets?" Marik asked, "You can have my Millennium Rod if you want, but before I hand it over to you, you have to do something for me in exchange, for I am somewhat of a collector myself and once I possess what I desire, I will have no more need for the Millennium Rod."

"Why should I help?" Bakura snapped, "I could take your Millennium item by force as I have done to others in the past."

"Because I know the whereabouts of several of the Millennium Items, as well as the location of the one you'd have to speak to about getting your 'toy' off of Team Galactic's hit list."

"Perhaps there is a way we can work together." Bakura smirked, "And help each other to get what we want."

"You've made a wise choice." Marik replied, with a smirk of his own, "I will call my Rare Hunters away from chasing the Day Care Leader. She poses no threat to us. With our combined powers, even with her Pokemon, no one in the world will be able to stop us!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

She knew something was going on when she took to the air, after defeating the Grunt, allowing her to claim her fourth and fifth locator cards, and there were no Rare Hunters wandering around,

Considering that she'd practically been swamped by them earlier, she couldn't believe that they'd all been defeated, that was too easy. Of course the Grunts were still about, and she memorized where they were, wishing she had time to stop and find out from them, exactly where they were keeping Joey and Tea.

Gaining height, she flew high above the buildings, taking the most direct route to the train station. She had more important things to worry about then the last Locator card, while she'd have loved to compete in the finals; something told her that whatever Cyrus and Marik were scheming, it wouldn't end well for her friends…

Iblis hovered in midair, stopping abruptly as something huge and blue and terrifying looking appeared atop a building…

Well… if Yugi wasn't in that Duel, then she was a Mankey's Uncle.

"Go." Jamie ordered, sending Iblis swooping in that direction as the huge blue monster threw a punch, hovering just behind the pair facing the one Rare Hunter and wondering what the hole in the roof was about. "Yugi!"

Yugi turned to look, relief crossing his features for a moment, before he turned back to the Rare Hunter, who was speaking weirdly and spouting something about being Marik and spilling his plans…

When the Rare Hunter passed out, Jamie landed her Charizard on the roof, "Yugi, I ran into a Grunt who claimed they have Joey and Tea."

"I know." Yugi growled, "Marik's Rare Hunters captured them."

"Damn it… I'm going to the train station, the Grunt was threatening Tristan and Serenity and I can't help Tea and Joey until I know where they are…"

"Go." Yugi nodded, pausing in surprise as one of Kaiba's helicopters rose over the roof.

Jamie and Iblis swooped away as Mokuba landed the chopper on the roof, his Houndour leaping out too.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Izard!"

"What is it Iblis?"

"Zard!" Far below, there were people running from other people and she trusted Iblis's vision at this range far more then she trusted her own, "Go!"

Iblis swooped down, flying low enough overhead that his slipstream knocked the hooded creeps backwards and pushed the three running away, forwards, landing as the one who had been running away turned around.

Tristan, Serenity and a black haired male with a bandana keeping his hair in check, stared at her, then Tristan gave her an even more relived look then Yugi had, "Jamie?"

Jamie dismounted, grinning at the three before putting on her best death glare, the one she used when she was fighting or debating with Team Galactic grunts, and turned to the creeps. "Hi guys. I can handle this."

"Where's Tea and Yugi?"

"I don't know, Tristan. Yugi got Kaiba to track Joey, but I was midair, searching for you lot, before I could hear where he and Tea are."

"Step aside, girl, we're not afraid of any holograms." The goon that was obviously the leader was laughing at her.

Jamie snorted, ill amused, "Marik obviously didn't tell you about me. Iblis is no hologram."

"Jamie?" Serenity's voice sounded uncertain.

"It's me, don't worry about your brother. Yugi'll find him, he'll be fine." Jamie looked over her shoulder at the two boys, "Get her out of here."

The black haired male ran for it, taking Serenity with him.

"Now," Jamie turned and glared at the goons, "Where are my friends?"

"As if we'd tell you. I told you, we're not afraid of holograms." The leader of the little group said, standing up.

"Flamethrower."

It was a deliberate narrow miss, startling the Rare Hunters with it's heat and ferocity.

"Tell me where my friends are and I'll get Iblis to eat you."

"Uhhh, Jamie? Don't you mean or 'I'll get Iblis to eat you'?" Tristan asked.

"Depends how fast they tell me."

"We're not telling you anything." The leader was backing away as his goons turned to flee.

"Tsunami, stop them!" Jamie threw a Pokeball over the heads of the Rare Hunters and her Gyarados appeared in a flash of light, towering over the goons, who bumped into it and bounced backwards.

"I told you, not holograms."

"Jamie?"

"Shush Tristan, I know what I'm doing." Jamie broke her act long enough to flash Tristan a quick, reassuring smile. "Now, where are my friends?"

Silence.

"Tsunami, Ice Beam!"

The huge Water/Flying type fired the beam at the ground, turning it into an ice skating rink and freezing the Rare Hunters to the floor.

"Iblis, lunch ti…"

"Wait!" The Leader snapped, "They're at the docks. Master Marik has something planned."

"See, that wasn't so hard." Jamie smirked, "Hey Tristan, think they'd make a good snack for the boys?"

"Nah, they'd give Iblis and Tsunami food poisoning."

"You're right, let's go." Jamie returned Tsunami to his Pokeball and turned to mount Iblis.

"Pokemon Trainer."

Tristan froze and glared at the leader, noting the glowing symbol on his forehead. "Jamie…"

She turned around, hearing the echo in the voice, thinking quickly. "You're him, aren't you? The one behind all of this?"

"That is correct. I am Marik."

"Why are you attacking my friends?"

"The Pharaoh has something that belongs to me and I won't rest until I have it."

"You mean Yugi? Yugi's no Pharaoh, at least not as I understand the…" She paused because Marik was laughing. "What's so funny?"

"You mean he hasn't told you yet?" Marik found something hilarious, "He uses you and your Pokemon for his own cause, but doesn't trust you with a secret that he's already shared with the rest of his friends!"

Jamie growled.

"You deserve much better then that, Pokemon Trainer."

"I have a name Marik."

"I haven't had a chance to introduce myself before," The man was still laughing, "And the Pharaoh hasn't bothered to mention you."

"Then maybe I should introduce myself." Jamie growled, "Tristan, go to Yugi and Joey."

"But…"

"I have Iblis and Tsunami, go."

Tristan nodded and ran off.

"Well Pokemon Trainer?"

She waited until Tristan had gone, then turned back to the mind controlled goon, "I am Jamelia Francis of Littleroot Town, winner of the Sinnoh League and Aspiring League Champion. My friends call me Jamie."

"A pleasure." Marik sounded like he was smirking and it irritated Jamie no end.

"Niceties aside, I'm going to help my friends. Tsunami return." Jamie returned her Gyarados to it's Pokeball and mounted her Charizard, "They will stop you."

"I can get you home."

Iblis roared as Jamie tensed up. "You lie."

"Oh I still have a few things to work out, but with the power of the Pharaoh, I should be able to send you home."

"Not interested." Jamie got Iblis to take off, closing her eyes. He'd known where to hit her as a wave of homesickness washed over her.

She missed her family, she missed her home, she missed travelling freely…

"Izard!"

"Iblis?"

A car was moving at a ridiculously fast pace towards the docks.

"Follow it."

Iblis swooped towards the docks and Jamie let her mind wander, they'd get there in time, they just had too…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Jamie's Charizard was faster then the blonde woman's car, but only by dint of flying over buildings instead of having to fly around them, and what she saw when she reached the docks nearly made her fall from Iblis' back.

Yugi and Joey, chained to an anchor with what looked like a timer attaching it to the scaffolding, duelling against each other.

Yugi looked wounded too, had he been in a fight with someone before this?

Something was going on here that she didn't understand, and neither she or Kaiba, who was watching, could help because Tea was tied to that chain under the crate…

"Jamelia." Jamie glared at the goons, recognising the voice, but they smirked at her and pointed towards the Duel. "I would recommend that you land and remove your Pokeball belt and your Duel Disk, Jamelia, unless you want Tea to get crushed."

"Iblis, land." Jamie ordered, already undoing her belt. "Kaiba, what's going on?" She asked as she slipped her Duel Disk off, recalled Iblis and placed both Duel Disk and Pokeballs on the ground,

"Marik's brainwashed Wheeler somehow and if Yugi doesn't break Marik's hold on him, one or both of them is going to be dragged under the waves by the anchor and drown…"

Jamie considered her Pokemon, Tsunami could break the chains with his teeth, but none of her Pokemon were fast enough to get to Tea in time. "Hold on, guys." She murmured, thinking quickly.

The blonde in the car with the others pulled up milliseconds later, "Yugi! Joey!" Tristan called, vaulting out of the car.

"Don't get any closer!" One of the goons laughed.

"Careful." Jamie hissed, "We can't approach or Tea'll get it."

"What's going on?"

Kaiba found himself explaining again as Jamie used the confusion to edge forward, reaching for the Pokeball she'd concealed in her back pocket.

"Stop right there, Francis!" One of the goons laughed, "And put the Pokeball down unless you want your friend to go squish."

"Damn." She growled, putting Tsunami's ball down on the floor, next to her belt.

"One more stunt like that and it's over." The goon warned.

"We have to do something!" Tristan growled.

"I know. I know." Jamie was irritated. She was helpless in this situation, and she hated it, "Joey…" _Kaida, does he have Kaida?_ "Joey, remember Kaida! Your Dragonair!" _Kaida, come on, please… _"She's yours and yours alone! You used her to keep your promise to Serenity!"

There was a pause and for a moment Jamie hoped that she'd gotten through, and then, "Nice try, Center Leader, but this doesn't concern you! So I suggest you stay quiet. In fact…"

Two Team Galactic members stepped forward.

"Oh come off it." Jamie was torn between grabbing her Pokeballs and protecting Tea. "Unable to play fair, I see."

"You can leave." Marik said through Joey, "I have no more interest in you, now I'm about to defeat Yugi once and for all."

Jamie rolled as one of the Grunts sent out a Infernape and used Flamethrower, grabbing her belt and sending out Tsunami. "Water Pulse!"

It missed the Fire/Fighting type, and struck the box above Tea, pushing it backwards and out of alignment with the chair. That was all Jamie had time to do as she and Tsunami were drawn into battle with the two Grunts, leaving Kaiba's plan to come into effect, with one of his helicopters, on auto pilot, catching the rope with its runner and dragging the box into the ocean.

"Jamie!" Tristan turned around, knowing what was needed, but the Day Care Leader was too busy trying to hold her own, with tired Pokemon, against two lots of three Pokemon which were wielded by the Grunts.

Mai had picked up Jamie's Duel Disk, though something had gone skittering into the water, and Mai had a horrible feeling it was a locator card, meanwhile Yugi had finally managed to break Marik's control on Joey and was now just twenty seconds from the timer running out.

Jamie couldn't keep up with her battle and the Duel at the same time, knowing that everything depended on Yugi's next…

"What!" There was real fear in Jamie's gasp as Yugi was blasted by a direct assault card and collapsed.

"Tsunami!" She bellowed, sending the Gyarados into the water, "Help them! Iblis, Denkou, help me!"

Raichu and Charizard took over the battle where her Gyarados had left off, but all were distracted as something exploded.

"NO! Yugi! Joey!" A huge splash and Tea's scream distracted Jamie long enough for her to be hit by a Vine Whip from the enemy's Ivysaur, and knocked to the ground.

"Flamethrower! THUNDER!" Jamie bellowed, desperate to get back to the others.

One of the Grunts fell back, heading towards the group who were helping a tired, injured Yugi out of the water, but didn't get too close as Mokuba's Houndour used Flamethrower on him, causing him to run in the opposite direction, his Pokemon already knocked out by Jamie's.

The second Grunt glared at her and fled, she would have given chase, but there were more important matters. Where was Joey?

There was a second huge splash, drenching everyone as Tsunami surfaced, Serenity on his back and just as importantly, Joey was with them.

Jamie sat down hard on the walkway, with a sigh of relief.

"You ok?" Mai asked, joining her after lambasting Joey for being an idiot about the whole thing and threatening him with actually bodily harm if he tried to give up the Tournament.

"I think so. My Pokemon are exhausted, we've been fighting all day." Jamie sighed, "I'm Jamie Francis."

"Mai Valentine." The woman grinned at her, worriedly, "I think you're missing something."

Jamie checked her Pokeballs first, then her Duel Disk, finally noting what she was missing. "I had five map cards…"

She held up just three.

"I think they went in the water."

Jamie actually looked like she was considering going in after them.

"You'll never find them in time."

"Three map cards, think you can get them in time?"

"I can but, I don't know if my Pokemon could handle any more battles today." Jamie sighed. "I can't risk their safety…" She sighed and turned to Joey, "You do still have Kaida, right?"

Joey reaching into his back pocket and pulled out the shrunken Pokeball, pressing the button so it resized and then released the Dragonair, who wrapped itself around him in relief.

"Oh thank goodness."

"Jamie, you sure you ok with not being a finalist?"

"No, not really but I don't have time to get them." She said, watching as Kaiba nodded to her and slipped off, with only, "I'll see you at the finals, Yugi.", to let them know he was going.

"It'll be fine." Jamie said, irritated but willing. "I'll just have to play cheerleader."

"Hey!"

"What? She has a point."

"Let's go." Mai prodded them, "Time for the finals."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - So, alright I skipped some, but not much really happened so you didn't miss much…**


	9. It's All News to Me

**Now, back to the story...**

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

It been had three months since the first incident, and Cynthia was once again racing up Mt. Coronet.

While the Sinnoh League held their funeral for the Aspiring Champion who was assumed dead after being sucked into a dimensional vortex, the greater majority of the world's Elite Trainers and Champions were making the same flight they'd tried three months ago, but this time they had less hope.

So far Team Galactic had seemed to be pretty quiet, not like those weird robed people who seemed to be working alongside Team Galactic and had been causing chaos with their illusionary monsters. Of course there had been no way they could trust this so Lance, the Champion of the Kanto League and a Pokemon G-Man had worked his way into Team Galactic, working behind the scenes to find out what they were up to.

It hadn't been good.

While they had been using Palkia and those illusions to terrify the people of the Pokemon world into submission, to the point where the world was now polarised, those who followed the league and those who were under Galactic rule, with Trainers having to state their intentions before they entered a town and Pokemon Centres being the only truly neutral grounds, Team Galactic had been using it's powers to manipulate the dimensional walls, and Lance, in his position as a guard, had overheard someone talking about a power greater then that of Palkia and how it wouldn't be long before it fell into their hands.

Lance had managed to free Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, but not before Team Galactic had been able to forge a second Red Chain, which they planned to use to awaken Dialga, the Lord of Time.

If Team Galactic got control of both the Lord of Time and the Lord of Space, it would all be over, as it was Palkia's Spacial Rend had been used all over Sinnoh, in an attempt to open a pathway to where ever the hell they were trying to get to.

With Dialga's Roar of Time, Team Galactic could manipulate time as well as space and all those who opposed them would feel their wrath.

But that was just it. Lance had said that he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Cyrus, their leader, in the whole time he'd been there, Mercury, Pluto, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, but no Cyrus. He wasn't high enough up the chain yet to ask either…

They were still working to a plan created by Cyrus, but he was nowhere to be seen…

Garchomp swooped overhead, landing between Saturn and the all important altar. "Not this time."

"You couldn't stop us last time." Saturn laughed, "You couldn't even protect that Aspiring Champion, yet alone a legendary Pokémon."

"You. Won't. Win. This. Time." Cynthia snapped, as Lance arrived just behind the group of Galactic grunts. "In the name of the Sinnoh League, I'm placing all of you under arrest!"

Saturn snorted, "Palkia, come forth."

Cynthia snarled as the huge water/dragon appeared in front of her, roaring.

"Now, you can move aside or you can join the Aspiring Champion…"

"Garchomp?" Cynthia said, hands balling up into fists.

"Gar Garchomp Gar." Her dragon/ground type gave her **that** look, the one she'd attributed to 'since when have I ever backed down?'

Cynthia nodded, "Dragon Pulse!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Bakura, having helped the leader of the Rare Hunters with the first part of his plan, was now looking for someone to… acquire some more locator cards from, having already borrowed a Duel Disk from one loser and acquired a locator card from another…

He didn't miss the big, almost black shadow that passed overhead, and looked up to see a Charizard passing rapidly overhead. Since at one point or another he'd swiped the greater majority of Team Galactic's Pokémon, including the Flygon he now kept on him, by permission of the Day Care Leader, he knew that there was only one Charizard in this world and it belonged to the one he'd called 'his toy' earlier.

Something was going on.

But right now, it was getting late and he had bigger fish to fry…

Heading towards the graveyard, he was only a little ways in before he could hear voices.

"Stupid Duellists." Someone was crowing, "There's no ghouls here!"

"Just us scaring people in dropping their locator cards!" Someone else crowed.

Bakura smirked, it these goons weren't even proper Duellists, it would be all too easy to get their locator cards from them, and then all he'd have to do would be win the 'God' cards from whoever had them and he'd be on easy street to the Millennium items. Not that he actually trusted Marik to keep his word about the things, but he would know where to look.

If he was honest, he didn't believe Marik's promises about being able to stop the Galactic Grunts from chasing Jamie either, but at least the Rare Hunters were being called away from her.

He wandered further in as the sun went down, keeping an ear out for those idiots.

"HAUNTER!" Bakura just stood there and stared at the ghost Pokémon who had appeared out of nowhere. "Haunt?" It looked confused, having failed to scare him.

"Hello Haunter." Bakura snorted, "I thought you'd learnt that you couldn't scare me." He remembered taking Haunter to the Day Care Centre, it escaped to cause mischief on a regular basis, and as long as it wasn't causing too much trouble, Jamie didn't worry about it too much, after all, ghost Pokémon were notoriously hard to keep in any one place.

"Feel up to causing some mischief?" Bakura asked, getting a rather evil idea.

Haunter gave him the most derogatory look it could muster. It always felt up to causing some mischief.

"Come on… lets go scare the prats."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"You can't possibly be thinking about victory…" Saturn snarled, "Dragon Claw!"

"Garchomp, Dragon Rush!" Garchomp folded itself in and swooped forward, slamming into Palkia, "I don't have to think about it, I know that I'll win!"

"That's it, no more Mr. Nice Guy, Palkia, Spacial Rend!"

"Garchomp return!" Cynthia reacted quickly, diving behind a pillar to avoid getting sucked into the vortex, just as she had the last time she'd been here. It was why she wasn't presumed dead too…

Unfortunately this distraction gave Saturn the chance he needed to reach the altar, putting the Red Chain down alongside the Adamant Orb.

The ground shook.

"Saturn!" Cynthia's eyes widened as Lance's bellow, "Do you have any idea what you've done?" She looked around the pillar to see Lance standing firm against the pull, surrounded by odd purplish blue aura.

"Cyrus warned us about you, Lance. PKNE04 positive, bound to the dragons of the Pokémon world in a way that no other Champion could ever be, but there's nothing that you can do to stop me. If you try, Dialga will rampage and time itself will stop."

Lance snarled as Dialga emerged from the void…

"You have a choice, you can let us capture it or you can let time itself come to a complete stop."

"There's a second choice." Cynthia growled, as the fighting between the Galactic grunts and the other Elite came to a close, in favour of the Elite, "Lance, you stop Dialga, I'll fight Saturn."

"Cynthia…"

"You couldn't stop me last time, what makes you think that you can do so this time?"

"I'm stronger, you're not."

"Alright Cynthia." Lance nodded, "There's no time to argue it over. Take care."

"You too."

Unspoken between them was… 'don't lose.'

"W…wait!" Saturn stammered as Lance pushed past him, sending out one of his three Dragonites.

"Lance's battle is no concern of yours." Cynthia snapped, "Garchomp, come out now!" Garchomp returned to its place between the void and Palkia.

Lance was reaching into his back pocket for an empty Pokeball. He wasn't stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but there was only two ways to calm Dialga without using that Red Chain.

Defeating it, or capturing it and defeating it would just give them an opening to try this again…

Cynthia needed to break the Red Chain on Palkia…

And he needed to capture Dialga…

No problem.

"Dragonite, get ready." Dragonite nodded as the huge dragon/steel Pokémon appeared, it's Roar freezing time momentarily, before it turned to look at Lance who was holding the Adamant Orb, the Red Chain that had once sat next to it, was on the floor, crushed under Dragonite's foot. "Dialga! I am Lance, Champion of the Kanto League. I challenge you."

"NO!" Saturn protested, "It was I who…" His complaints were cut off by Garchomp's Dragon Pulse.

Dialga looked at Lance, considering. Then it attacked without warning, expecting Lance to be ready, with Ancient Power.

Dragonite had been ready all along, dodging the rocks easily, and blasting the Lord of Time with Hyper Beam.

It shrugged it off, normal on steel, and roared, freezing time, and before it restarted, Dragonite had been knocked into a pillar and was growling the moment he was aware of anything happening.

Lance cursed under his breath, unable to think of anything that could counter Roar of Time, "Dragonite!"

Dragonite was already on the counter attack, using it's Outrage attack, causing Lance to lose control, but knocking Dialga back.

Dialga roared again, but this time, time rewound so that the first Outrage missed.

"This is crazy." Lance heard Bruno complain, "How do we defeat something that can rewind time?"

Lance grabbed the Pokeball he was trying to get. He had 'borrowed' it from Team Rocket, in a bid to make sure that they didn't capture the legendary Pokémon, Mew, which they had been stalking around New Forest. He knew the girl that particular Mew was linked to and she wouldn't have been happy if he'd let them capture it.

Dragonite's Outrage continued, slamming into Dialga, who attempted to counter with Dragonbreath.

Dragonite dodged it, and pushed Dialga back again… Dialga took a step backwards, a portal opening behind it…

"Master Ball, GO!" Lance called, striking the Lord of Time with the Pokeball and before it could react it was inside… everyone and everything froze as the Pokeball shook. There was no way it could have broken out but still…

Wobble…

Saturn attempted to get past Cynthia and was knocked back by her Gastrodon.

Wobble…

Lance edged forward…

Wobble…

Palkia roared, the world shifted and everyone had to grab onto something as a new Spacial Rend opened up, sucking up everything that wasn't held down… including the Master Ball.

"NO!" Lance lunged, but he was too late and was only stopped from being sucked up himself by his Dragonite landing between him and the portal, which closed as abruptly as it opened.

"Did that…?" Bruno asked as the shock wore off.

Saturn was laughing.

"What's so funny?" Cynthia demanded.

"After all of that…" Saturn laughed, "After all of that, that Pokémon's going to our leader anyway!"

"What?" Lance snapped, glaring.

"And the best part is that the brat doesn't stand a chance against it!" Saturn continued to giggle, "You've given us victory, if not here then in the other world! And we still have Palkia here! We can travel freely and all you can do is wait!"

"What are you planning?"

"Our leader, Cyrus, has discovered a power even more incredible then that of the legendary Pokémon, and using this dark shadow power, we'll be able to control the effects of Palkia and Dialga! We will remake the world in our image and you've just given us the tools to do so!"

"Where is Cyrus?" Lance demanded.

"And what do you mean 'the brat doesn't stand a chance against it'?" Cynthia snapped.

"Our most exulted leader is leading the charge from his new base of operations in the new world, aided by one of the wielders of the Shadows and the company Paradius." Saturn was still highly amused, you could tell by his tone, "And your league declared the brat dead this afternoon." This seemed to tickle him, "Wait until I get to bring that up in front of her."

"Where is she? Is she unharmed?"

"She's safe, with a different Shadow wielder, at least for now… she won't be once we find that Master Ball." Saturn looked around, the Grunts were gathering. "And on that note…" Saturn, Palkia and the Grunts vanished into a vortex.

"Get back here!" Lance snapped, he and Dragonite attempted to dive through the closing vortex, just missed and ended up crashing into the ground. "Damn."

"He's gone…"

"Saturn wouldn't have killed himself if he was so sure that they were going to win." Agatha said with absolute certainty. "He's obviously headed to this 'new world' of theirs."

"But surely he's just as stuck as Jamelia is…"

"Not while they have Palkia."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Jamie was sat on the steps of the blimp, which was parked inside the construction site of what would be White Lightening Stadium, waiting, alongside the others, for the remaining finalists. With Kaiba in slot one, Joey in slot 2, Yugi in slot 3 and Mai in slot 4, they were waiting on the other four.

If she was honest, she was feeling irritable. To be fair, she knew she didn't stand a chance when it came to duelling her friends, they would win, there were no doubts about it, but she would have liked the chance to compete.

"I have a bad feeling about this guys…" Yugi murmured causing Jamie to pay attention as someone entered the stadium via the main entrance, wearing a Duel Disk.

"Hey I know you." Joey said, surprise tinting his voice, "You're Namu, right?"

"You saved Bakura's life!" Tea grinned.

"What happened to 'Kura?" Jamie frowned, not having heard this.

"He was attacked by some punks." Joey growled, "He's in the hospital."

"You should have told me!" Jamie growled at Joey, then bowed to Namu, "Thank you, for helping Bakura."

"I'd do anything to help out a friend."

"Sorry Jamie."

Joey was being short with her, but after the day they'd had she could understand why. She was reaching for Iblis's Pokeball when Namu continued, "Is everyone a finalist?"

"No, I lost some of my map cards during a fight." Jamie shook her head, wondering why Joey and Yugi suddenly seemed so uptight. She snorted at her stupidity, of course they were uptight, they were waiting on Marik…

Her right hand fell away from her belt as the next person walked in, via a side exit. "'Kura?" She rushed over, noting the bandage and the Duel Disk on the same arm, "You're supposed to be in the hospital."

"I don't baby you, so don't baby me." Bakura warned.

"Sorry." For a moment it was her Bakura, and then Yugi and the others rushed over and somehow he changed, his eyes became softer, his hair less spiky… Jamie was completely confused as he acted like someone else entirely…

Yugi was shocked at Bakura's presence, but as someone else stormed in, in Rare Hunter robes and with a Duel Disk on one arm, everyone turned to glare.

"Jamelia." Bakura hissed, "I have Haunter and you'd better take these. Don't open them." He pressed a pair of Pokeballs into her hand.

"What's in 'em?" Jamie hissed but was distracted as Joey growled.

"That's the guy!"

"That's Marik?" Jamie asked, glaring and growling.

"That's right." Marik seemed ill amused, "I am Marik Ishtar."

"I'll kick your brain washing keister!" Joey snapped, growling.

"You're no match for me." Marik barely deigned to look at the angry teenager. "Fool."

There was an exchange of bantering, or rather Joey mouthed off at the man who seemed completely unbothered by Joey's ranting.

"Now that seven out of eight of you are here, you may board the blimp." Marik boarded first, Jamie taking the opportunity to pull Bakura aside as the guards tried to refuse to let Tea, Tristan, Duke and Serenity onboard.

"'Kura where did you get these?" She held up the Pokeballs.

"Borrowed them."

"From who?"

"Who do you think?" 'Kura asked, Jamie snorted, "I want Haunter."

"What does Haunter have to say about it?"

Bakura rolled his eyes as Haunter appeared in front of Jamie, making stupid faces and generally trying to scare her. Beyond the first surprised shriek, though, it wasn't very effective. "So what do you think?" Jamie asked it, "You want to stick with 'Kura?"

Haunter nodded.

"I suppose it's alright," Jamie decided, "But you have to live inside a Pokeball during the day and you can't interfere in any Duels, got it?"

Haunter nodded.

"Promise?"

Haunter just pulled silly faces.

"Guess that's the best I'm going to get." Jamie rolled her eyes. The blimp shook and Jamie's head shot towards the door, where a woman was entering the blimp. "We're on the move."

"Guess we'll be starting soon." Bakura looked unimpressed.

"Go report to your room." Jamie smiled, "I'm going to go irritate Kaiba."

"Have fun."

"You too."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Okay, irritating her boss had been fun until he'd told her off and threatened to replace her with Galactic Grunts at the Day Care Centre. After that she'd gone to the main hall to wait for the draws to be picked, feeding her smaller Pokémon titbits from the buffet table.

She felt a bit torn, she knew that this Tournament was incredibly important to Yugi, but she still couldn't help hoping that Bakura would win it. The problem was that no one had really explained to her way this Tournament was just so important, just that it had something to do with Yugi's magic Puzzle, as far as she could work out, someone had a clue about Yugi's ancient memories and…

Bakura probably could have explained it, but he hadn't really been saying much about the Millennium magics recently. Perhaps he'd already told her everything there was to know… or everything that he was willing to tell her…

He was being surprisingly well behaved considering that he'd always said that he couldn't be within a ten foot radius with Yugi without causing problems, she had to wonder if he was saving it up for later or whether he was behaving for her sake. She was hoping the latter.

"All Duellists must report to the dinning hall immediately, the draws are about to commence." Jamie snorted, passing Aisu some snacks and watching as the Duellists and spectators filed in, Aisu rushing over to Yugi then growling and running back again.

Jamie still didn't get it, why Aisu disliked Yugi sometimes but adored him others. Joey was stuffing his face, and as such had Shade following him around. The Mightyena wasn't proud he'd accept food from anyone that wasn't in Galactic colours.

"Hey 'Kura." Jamie said, wandering over as he stacked his plate up, "You ready for this?"

"As I'm going to be." It was the softer Bakura again, the one she didn't get to see very often, the one that wasn't her Bakura… "I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"I didn't think you were entering." Joey mentioned, having nearly walked into them, "How did you manage to qualify so quickly?"

"I won all of my Map Cards at once, Duelling Bonz and his friends in the cemetery."

"And they gave you all of their map cards?"

"Well I had to be forceful about it…"

Now that sounded more like something her 'Kura would do, and she was unsurprised at the look on Joey's face. It had to be said that Duelling in a cemetery at night wasn't her idea of a particularly fun time either. Joey wandered off to talk to Tea and Mai and Jamie snorted. "Does Haunter have anything to do with the forcible removal of Map Cards by any chance?"

"I won them, fair and square." Bakura protested, "Just because I might have used Haunter's help to get them to pay up," _Not that I really needed it, with the Shadows on my side, _"Doesn't mean I didn't win them."

"I never said you didn't, it just seems like something Haunter would have enjoyed enough to want to team up with you."

Bakura laughed, attracting the attention of Yugi and Joey, "Well he does like playing tricks."

Said Pokémon was playing games right now, and had just scared Tea silly by appearing directly behind her and grabbing her around the waist, making her scream and wheel around, only to find the ghost Pokémon pulling faces.

"Francis, get your Pokémon to behave." Kaiba admonished, after telling his goon to go and collect the eighth duellist from their room.

"Sorry, Haunter's not mine." Jamie shrugged, "Besides, have you ever tried to get a ghost to do what it's told?"

"Who's is it?"

"Bakura's."

"Figures." Joey snorted.

"Bakura…"

The lights went out and a bingo machine with just eight balls in rose from the platform. "Here we go then."

"Duellists and guests, may I have your attention please. Now, the first two Duellists for round one will be chosen by lottery. To guarantee fairness each set of opponents will be selected completely at random, you've all been assigned a number, one through eight, the selector will now choose the first two numbers. The second pair will not be drawn until the winner of the first match has been decided. Thus you will not know your opponent's identity until just before you duel"

"Sounds fair." Jamie murmured, thinking that this made it a better challenge then allowing them time to prepare for a specific opponent, playing the best you could with the cards you had…

"All eight balls are of equal size and weight," Roland continued, "The selector produces results that are one hundred percent random. Does everyone remember his or her number?"

"If they don't they must have brain damage." Bakura snorted.

The selector was activated.

They waited a couple of moments, then the first ball dropped. "Number 6. Ryou Bakura."

"You're up 'Kura." Jamie grinned, "Good luck."

"Are you sure you're up to Duelling, man?" Joey asked, worried.

"I'm fine, honest."

The second number came out, "And Number 3, Yugi Muto."

Jamie bit her lower lip, of all the match ups to get… Yugi verses 'Kura…

"Be careful, please 'Kura?"

"You should have more faith in me." Bakura, her Bakura answered.

"I have plenty of faith in you, just… you worry about me when I'm hurt… now I'm worrying about you."

Roland explained the rest of the rules and the two Duellists left. Jamie rushed along to the elevator…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Are you prepared to lose it all?" Bakura asked, putting Jamie on edge.

_What is he doing?_

"I won't lose." Yugi growled, "Before we begin this Duel, why don't you tell me who you really are and stop this charade?"

Jamie frowned, that was 'Kura up there, right? Why wouldn't Yugi believe that it was?

'Kura just giggled.

"Alright, have it your way then, but I think I know who you are."

The Millennium Ring appeared with a glow from beneath 'Kura's shirt.

"It is you!" Yugi growled. "The spirit of the Millennium Ring!"

"Spirit of the…" Jamie frowned, "But that's 'Kura…"

"You may not recognise the difference, because you get the spirit of the Ring whenever you're dealing with Bakura." Joey growled, "But that isn't Ryou Bakura, that's the spirit that lives inside the Millennium Ring and who possesses Bakura."

"I didn't wish to reveal myself so early, Yugi, you've left me in a bind. I expected to have time to explain to Jamelia myself, or thought that perhaps you might explain yourself to her, after all, you're not exactly Yugi Muto are you? You're the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle."

"Can someone explain please?" Jamie growled as Joey and Tristan went off on one about the Millennium items.

"Please, I don't understand either." Namu complained.

"Basically Yugi and Bakura have these really old items with incredible powers…"

"They have Millennium Items, I know that much." Jamie growled.

"Right, well, Yugi's Puzzle is good, while Bakura's Ring is bad, so the spirits that reside within those items are like that too. Yugi's possessed by Yami, who's a good guy, while Bakura's possessed by…"

"'Kura." Jamie frowned.

"Yes, but you haven't seen all of him there is to see." Joey warned, "He's probably a lot more dangerous then he's let you see. I just hope he doesn't drag Yugi into the Shadow Realm again."

"Shadow Realm?" Namu asked, but Jamie already knew the answer to this one, that had been covered in Bakura's Shadow Magic 101 classes.

"Well then, now that the introductions are over with, why don't we begin this Duel?" 'Kura asked, smirking.

"First, tell me why you've entered the Battle City finals and what it is you hope to gain." Yugi who wasn't Yugi demanded… Yami… Jamie had to try to remember that. "Is it about the Millennium Items?"

"Perhaps." 'Kura admitted, with a smug smirk on his face. "Yugi, perhaps there is something else that I plan to take away from you, besides your Millennium Puzzle."

"What are you talking about?" Yami demanded, afraid for a moment that Bakura was going to go after Yugi or one of Yugi's friends.

"You ask a lot of questions don't you?" Bakura snorted. "There is so much about this tournament that you are unaware of, so many secrets being kept from you, for instance how do you know that I am working alone?"

Tristan and Duke turned to look at Jamie who glowered at them, "Sure, I'm working with a guy I didn't know existed." She snapped and glared at Bakura, "You have some explaining to do once this Duel is over." She growled.

"I will fully answer your questions, once I have removed this thorn from my side." Bakura acquiesced.

"You don't want to believe anything he says." Joey spoke up.

"Considering I've been told more about everything by 'Kura then I have anyone else, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt." Jamie replied.

"And now, the first Duel of the Battle City finals will begin, it's time to Duel."

The systems set up, the Duel Disks became active and the two Duellists faced off.

The life points hit 4000 each.

"Just know," Yami growled, "Whatever it is you desire, you will fail."

"No, it is you who shall lose." 'Kura replied, "Everything you have!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Finally a new chapter of Spacial Rend, about time too… sorry for the delay everyone… stupid writer's block… getting there though. **

**I wonder how much Jamie's going to rant after this Duel…**


	10. You Win Some, You Lose Some

Lance didn't need this.

Returning to the Kanto League HQ, which they had only protected from an attack two weeks ago, to find it surrounded by Team Rocket grunts was bad enough.

Finding out that most of the staff, who were all incredibly competent Pokémon Trainers, were being held prisoner in the storage room in the basement was worse.

Finding out that one of your Gym Leaders was the Leader of Team Rocket was even worse.

Finding out that he was willing to make an offer that basically surmounted to total amnesty for all members of Team Rocket, in exchange for help against Team Galactic was the icing on the cake.

Giovanni of Viridian City was sat on the other side of the desk, smirking. He was aware of just how much the league needed help. It had never been a particularly stable system, considering just how easy it was to infiltrate. All you needed to do was ensure that you were a good enough Trainer and kept your skills up and you were practically guaranteed a League job.

Keep your name out of the police records and you could even get a high powered job like Gym Leader.

And now the League was crumbling from the inside, attacked from two angles. Both by the Team Galactic and by the people the League was failing to protect. Trainers were vanishing, cities were claiming the League was failing in its duty to protect them but refusing to get off their butts and do anything about it…

If it hadn't affected Giovanni's group so much, then he wouldn't have been bothered, but he had three reasons for offering this temporary truce. One was that amnesty for his members would ensure the success of Team Rocket in the future, two was that if Team Galactic destroyed the world, Team Rocket would be out of work, and three Cyrus had had the audacity to tell Giovanni to join them or they would be 'shut down'.

Knowing what they had on their side, Giovanni could easily work out what they meant…

Lance didn't want to make a deal with Team Rocket. Doing so would ensure the League's ability to maintain order in Kanto and Johto at least… but would ensure that the citizens of both countries would be terrorised by the group and any Pokémon trainer who was still travelling amid all of the chaos would be a target…

And yet which was worse, being stolen from or having the world come to an end around you?

Team Cypher was already working alongside Galactic, since Galactic were wary of messing with Cypher's Legendary Shadow Pokémon, Raikou, Entai, Suicune and Lugia, but Cypher wanted to share power in this new world, while their cohorts, Team Snagum were now stealing Pokémon from Trainers in all the other countries, instead of just Orre.

Ironically if there was ever a time to attempt to retake Orre from Team Cypher, now was it. It was just a shame that they didn't have the manpower to try it.

Team Aqua and Team Magma were disbanded, having already attempted to overthrow Galactic because they wanted to change the world their way, through the powers of Kyogre or Groudon, not through total world destruction, while the two teams which had been causing trouble for the Pokémon Rangers (who had joined up with the League last week), Dim Sun and the Go-Rock Squad, had either gone into hiding or vanished off the face of the planet… hopefully not to the 'New World' but Lance had no idea.

So that just left Team Rocket, and if he didn't get them the amnesty they were asking for, would they join Galactic, or continue to work to cause everyone trouble as they had been until recently…

It was an impossible situation and Lance wished that he wasn't the one that had to make the decision… but there was no choice…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Is he going to be alright?" Jamie hesitated to ask, wondering if they knew that her concern was in fact for not the host, but the spirit of the Ring.

"Mokuba said that the doctors on the blimp are better then any hospital…" Tea tried to be reassuring for the girl that was sat in the chair next to Bakura's bed, his Millennium Ring in her hands, but didn't really know what to say. Marik had frightened all of them when he had broken the control that Yami Bakura had held over Ryou, and if it hadn't been for Yami Bakura, Yugi would have thrown the duel…

"Slifer's…" Jamie just shook her head. If anything the God Card had scared her, and she hated feeling scared. Fear was something that could cripple a Pokémon Trainer in the middle of a life or death situation, and it wasn't something she was accustomed to feeling… but then not only had Slifer been bigger then any Pokémon she'd ever met, you could feel the power radiating from it. She had no doubt that it would have killed 'Kura's host had he been the one to take the attack.

That was why she was so worried about 'Kura.

"Jamie?" Yugi asked.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jamie asked, though there was none of the anger from when she had asked earlier. "You lied to me, told me that Bakura got odd sometimes, and that was why he acted like 'Kura, you didn't tell me that you and Ryou were possessed."

"How exactly were we supposed to bring it up in conversation?" Joey snorted, "Oh by the way Jamie, both Yuge and Bakura are possessed by a spirits and the Bakura you've been hanging around with is evil?"

"'Kura isn't evil…" Jamie glowered at him, "If he was evil he wouldn't be helping me and he certainly wouldn't have saved my life."

"He could be just using you." Yugi warned… except…

"You're not Yugi at the moment, are you?" Jamie asked, looking at him carefully, trying to work out how to distinguish Yugi and Yami. "You're Yami, right?" She asked, noting the red eyes and the way 'Yugi' seemed to be taller then before.

'Yugi' nodded, "It's nice to meet your properly."

"I would say the same if I hadn't been sure that I've spoken to you before without being aware of it." Jamie growled, "Every time Aisu ignores Yugi, it's been you not him, hasn't it?"

"Yes."

"So how many times have you had a chance to explain to me and passed it up?"

Yami hesitated. It was all Jamie needed to know. "Need to know basis and I didn't need to know." She snorted. It was a statement, not a question, "Does it harm Yugi in anyway to share his body with another soul?"

"Not that we're aware of." Joey shook his head. "Yami's on our side, one of the good guys, he wouldn't harm Yugi. Bakura's got no such qualms."

Jamie couldn't really respond to that considering the amount of times that he'd come into the Day Care to drop off a Pokémon, bruised and injured… and it hadn't even been his body…

"All remaining Finalists must report to the Dining Hall now."

The gang hesitated.

"Go. I'll keep an eye on Bakura." Jamie sighed, "If Joey doesn't go now, he'll be kicked out of the Tournament."

"Jamie…"

"I'm a Trainer, I know how important Tournaments are, my grievances can wait, go."

"Thanks." Joey shot out the room and down the hall. Serenity, Duke and Tristan close behind.

"Can I stay?" Tea asked Jamie, who shrugged.

"Jamie…"

"Get out, Yami. I need to think about this before I can decide how I feel about it."

Yami left.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him, he tries his best and he really worries about you." Tea said, sitting on the arm of the chair.

"I know but…" Jamie sighed, as Bakura's Haunter hovered just inside the door, on sentry duty since he wasn't allowed to cause a fuss during Duels if he wanted to stay with the Tomb Robber.

"Have you ever really spoken to Bakura, or has it always been the spirit?"

"I think it's always been 'Kura," Jamie said slowly, "The shy Bakura from earlier wasn't someone I recognised… but 'Kura can't be evil, not with everything he's done for me…" Jamie sighed, "The world isn't that simple, it's not black and white, there are about a million shades of grey in between."

"The guys will always consider him evil because of what he's done to the group in the past." Tea warned, "That isn't something that's going to change."

"I bet Yami's Shadow Gamed people in the past, if Bakura's classed as evil because of that, then why isn't Yami? What is the difference between Yami and 'Kura that makes that distinction?"

"Yami's never attacked innocent people."

"How do you know?"

"Because I've never seen Yami attack innocent people."

"Has Yugi?"

"Yugi wouldn't ever…" Tea realised what she was implying, "Not that I'm aware of."

"How did you know that Bakura's victims were innocent?"

"We did nothing to him."

"And that's how you define your right and wrong?"

"It's the only way we have when we don't know who to trust."

Jamie paused to think about this. She'd always known what was right and what was wrong, back home. The 'Teams', Magma, Aqua, Galactic, Rocket, Cypher, Snagum, Go-Rock and Dim Sun, or anyone who treated Pokémon badly were 'bad', while anyone who helped Pokémon, helped others or helped Trainers were always 'good', it had been that simple.

But here she didn't know what to think… she would never have advocated stealing Pokémon before she'd come here, even from the Teams, but it was alright here… why? Jamie shook her head and looked down, her eyes resting on the Millennium Item in her hands.

It was easy to distinguish Marik as 'bad', Pegasus too, from what she had heard about him, came under that heading, so why, by the same definitions could she not put 'Kura on that list?

There was so much that she didn't understand… she now wondered how much she 'wasn't allowed' to understand…

She wished 'Kura was awake.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Guys, you might want to hear this." Iason said, turning up the radio, "The League's making an announcement."

Iason was the leader of the small group of Trainers who were currently living at the home of Cheryl, who lived on the outskirts of Eterna Forest. There were ten or twelve of them, from all over the world, who had been travelling around the area when the latest of the Galactic attacks had caused Eterna City to be closed off to Pokémon Trainers.

There had been more who had passed by here. Some who had turned around and gone to find another route, some who had attempted to push through Eterna City without being caught out as a Pokémon Trainer, to varying success, but it was here that a Sinnoh resistance group was being built up.

"We, the Pokémon League, who officiate over all Leagues within the Pokémon World, tonight have this to announce." Everyone stilled, from Iason, who was the oldest at twenty one, to Nuri who was the youngest at ten, to listen to the announcement, "As of 6pm Kanto time today, Team Rocket have been granted amnesty for any past crimes and until such time as the Galactic threat has been nullified."

"What?" Nuri yelped as everyone started complaining loudly.

"Shut it, there's more!" Iason snapped, straining to listen over the noise.

"In exchange for this Team Rocket has agreed to help the League combat the threat, and each member of Team Rocket must be accompanied by a League approved Trainer in their day to day business. This decision was made by the Head of the Pokémon League and the Leader of Team Rocket, and will be made clear to all Pokémon Centres and Police Stations across the continents..."

They didn't need to hear anymore, and as Iason turned down the radio Yuki started a rant about how stupid this was. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about, now Team Rocket have the ability to steal any Pokémon from any Trainer they like until the Galactic thing is over…and this isn't increasing our forces any, not if they have to go around with League Trainers, that's just pairing people up!"

Iason let them talk themselves out before he spoke up, "If the League have sunk to this in order to attempt to maintain order in Kanto, then we will not receive any help here in Sinnoh." He said, looking at all of them, "We're on our own."

"So what do we do?" Diana, the second youngest asked, looking at him.

Tobias, the second oldest, already knew. "We have to free Palkia from Team Galactic's control. If we can do that then we break their grip on quite a few places, since there's a lot of people who are only listening to them in order to avoid being sucked into an alternate dimension."

"We already knew that." Josie glowered at him, "The question is how?"

"I'm home." Everyone fell silent as Cheryl walked in, "I've gotten all the supplies you asked for, as well as the medicine for that new Trainer and his Pokémon, and a couple of weeks worth of…" She paused and frowned as she noticed the looks on people's faces, "What's happened?"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Team Galactic Admin Mercury was in a foul mood.

They had been working with a high rate of success until five hours ago, when they had been informed that a Master Ball containing the Pokémon Dialga had been dropped into the New World by Palkia and all Grunts had had to stop what they were doing, which was attempting to capture Aspiring Champion Jamelia and any Pokémon who had slipped through the rends and were wandering around the New World as wild Pokémon.

Then they'd had to drop everything, and search.

If she was honest, she was very surprised at the obtuseness of the company that Francis worked for in thinking that Pokémon would only appear here in Japan. Team Galactic had been causing rends all over the Pokémon World, and the entire Pokémon World did not fit into one small area of Japan.

The only reason they knew that the Master Ball had to be in Domino was because the spacial rend had been caused where the first rends had, and those had dropped them here, in Domino City.

Mercury, personally, didn't understand why Palkia always dropped people here in the New World. She could only guess that it was because of the Red Chain, which didn't limit Palkia's powers like a Pokeball would, but still restrained the powers of the Legendary Pokémon and made them pliable to their Master's will.

Why Saturn had to be Palkia's Master was beyond her, she could do much better, but it wasn't her place to question Cyrus, who was her boss, it was just her duty to obey orders and find that damnable Master Ball.

What made things worse in Mercury's mind, was that while Paradius was still working with them, their Shadow Duellist partner had run off without mentioning anything and the Duellist that Galactic were supposed to be targeting had vanished around the same time.

Mercury was certain that they had vanished because 'Marik' wanted the power all for himself and had already defeated the one they were after. Either that or they had left the city for the finals. Both options were equally annoying, but since the Trainer they were hunting had left with them, it gave them a chance to find the Master Ball without it falling into her hands.

Again, this was something that Mercury didn't understand. Why put all this effort into capturing one Pokémon Trainer. What could she do to stop a Team like Galactic? One puny trainer wasn't enough against the army of grunts at Mercury's disposal, or any legendary Pokémon.

Aspiring Champion or not, Jamelia Francis would not stop Team Galactic.

But Cyrus had ordered her capture and Mercury would fulfil the order. It was just a question of when and how, considering that there wasn't many occasions that the Trainer was alone, and it had already been proved today that two grunts at once was still not a particularly hard challenge for her…

But first, finding that Master Ball before Francis got back…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

The first round was over, and Jamie was on the top of the blimp, leaning on the railings and watching the ocean go past underneath her, you couldn't see much, the water was the same inky black as the sky, and the sound of the waves was drowned out by the sound of the wind rushing past and the turbines on the blimp, but it was the ocean, non the less.

Yugi, Joey, Marik and Seto were going through to tomorrow's battles…

Marik… Jamie shuddered. She'd run into him in the corridor on her way up here. She should have been with Bakura, but she'd had to get some fresh air when Tristan had come by to tell her exactly what had been going on while she was looking after Bakura.

That wasn't Marik, she could tell that easily, except that he was… Unlike Yami or Bakura, Yami Marik wasn't really a spirit like Yami Yugi or Yami Bakura, but a split personality of Marik, which personified all of his hate and rage and maliciousness and… she'd never come across anyone like him. Even in her battle with Cyrus there had been something there that had seemed human to her…

What would happen to Mai if they couldn't beat Marik? What would Marik do to anyone who fought him…? And would they end up like Mai if they lost?

She was beginning to realise just how in over her head she was.

"Your presence here is not required."

Jamie jumped, wheeling around and glowering at the man who was stood on the Duelling Platform, wearing a dress of some kind and a tea towel wrapped around his head. "Who are you?" She demanded, her hand going to her belt and Aisu's Pokeball.

"I am Shadi, the Guardian of the Millennium Items."

Jamie snorted, "You're doing a pretty lousy job then." She said, her hand going to the cord that was around her neck, from which hung the Millennium Ring.

"You should not be wearing the item of another." Shadi continued, ignoring the comment, "It must be returned."

"I don't want anyone taking it." Jamie growled, "Bakura made sure my Pokémon were safe when I nearly died, so I'm protecting the Ring until he is better."

"You must not interfere in what is coming to pass."

"I don't have to listen to you." Jamie growled, "And I'm not interfering, I don't have the skills necessary to take on Marik or I'd fight him myself."

Shadi looked amused. "You sound confident, but your soul says otherwise, you fear what is happening, and you fear the power that resides around your neck."

"So what if I do? I don't intend on using the power, it's not mine."

"It is not yours to hold either."

"I'm not relinquishing it to you."

"I cannot allow you to interfere with the fate of the Pharaoh."

"You're talking about Yami, right?" Jamie asked and got no answer, "Well I'm not interfering, I'm just holding something for a friend and I'm not giving the Ring up to you, considering that you allowed the Millennium Rod to fall into the hands of Marik when you're supposed to be protecting them."

"Only until the time of the Pharaoh's return, and then I must allow fate to proceed as it had been destined." Shadi responded, "It was destiny that allowed Marik to get his hands on the Millennium Rod and create his dark side, and destiny that made sure that it was here and now, during Battle City, that the Pharaoh and Marik would fight to the end."

"I believe in a lot of things, but I know that fate had a helping hand in this." Jamie glared, "Isuzu spoke to Kaiba just two weeks ago and he announced the Tournament the day after. Fate obviously doesn't always take the route it wants unless it's helped along the way."

"If you want to interfere, prove yourself." Shadi drew something out from his robes. Something golden and shaped like a key.

"I'm not interfering and what the hell is that?" Jamie demanded, plucking Aisu's Pokeball off her belt and releasing the Glaceon who got between her Trainer and the very odd man.

"The Millennium Key."

"If you think for one second that I'm letting you anywhere near me with a Millennium Item you've got another think coming."

"You can either allow me into your mind, or you can battle me in a Shadow Game, either way, you will be tested."

"A Shadow Game would be unfair, I am both unprepared and unable to protect myself from the ravages of the Shadows and my mind is not a book to be read at any time."

"A choice must be made or I will make it for you."

Jamie hesitated, she'd much rather play a game with someone then allow them entry into her mind, but this wasn't any game. This was a Shadow Game. She'd known how dangerous they were even before Marik, Bakura had explained it to her.

"If you fear me this much, then you would be unable to protect the Ring from its enemies."

"I'll play against you." Jamie growled. "What is the game?"

The Shadows closed in around them, surrounding the entire blimp. Aisu growled as she looked around, and Jamie felt cold, whereas she hadn't before. This was it then, the Shadows…

"One on one," Shadi warned, "You're to get no help from your Pokémon."

"Aisu, stay back." Jamie spoke a lot more calmly then she felt, walking around to the opposite end of the Duelling Platform, and standing opposite Shadi, as a grid formed on the floor consisting of Shadows and solidified into stone tablets. "What's the game and what is the Penalty?"

"The game is Pairs. There are forty tiles here, twenty pairs. To win you must be the first one to find eleven pairs."

"That's pretty simple." Jamie was surprised. "And the Penalty, what is that?"

"If you win, I will not interfere in your actions any further."

"And if I lose?" That was the important one.

"If you lose then I will wipe your memories of everything that you've learned of the Millennium Items. You'll lose all your memories of Bakura, Yugi and everything else linked to the Millennium Items."

Jamie just stared at him, "You're serious?"

"I don't joke."

"Then I won't lose." Jamie growled.

"Then it's your turn first."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

'_Yugi!'_

Yugi didn't need Yami to tell him, he'd been staring out of the window and had seen the Shadows outside. Someone was in a Shadow Game.

"_Please don't let it be Joey, please don't let it be Joey…"_ Yugi chanted in his head as he ran up the stairs to the Duelling Arena. Afraid that it might be Joey challenging Marik and Marik who had activated the Shadow Game… _"Please don't let it be Joey, please don't let it be Joey…"_

Yami took over as they reached the top of the stairs and went out onto the top deck. Marik was here, but it wasn't his Shadow Game.

"You're a little late to the party Pharaoh." Marik snorted, as Jamie picked two tiles and cursed when they didn't match up.

"_Jamie?"_ Yugi sounded incredulous, which matched how Yami was feeling.

"Jamie?" Yami asked, as Shadi picked two tiles.

"That's nine pairs for me, you'll have to do better then this if you want to retain your memories." Shadi told the Pokémon Trainer before he even turned to look at the Pharaoh.

"A little busy a minute Yu…" She paused and looked properly, "Yami." She turned back to the tiles, "This one." She touched it, and it flipped over to reveal an eagle like bird, "And this one."

It too flipped over, revealing the second eagle like bird. "Yes! Seven!" She grinned, "This one and…" She paused to let it flip over, revealing a twisted rope, "Hmmm, I know I saw that one…" She touched a tile that was down and to the left, revealing the other twisted rope. "Yes! Okay…"

"Shadi, what did you mean if she wanted to retain her memories?" Yami demanded as Jamie picked another set and took her total up to nine.

"Exactly what I said. The Pokémon Trainer chose to wear the Ring and as such she has to be tested." Shadi said.

"No!" Jamie growled, slapping the ground, "Shadi it's your turn."

She backed away and watched Shadi pick his tenth set. Yami looked at Jamie who was in fact wearing the Ring, but was intently watching Shadi. Shadi picked one, it looked like a foot. His second one did too.

"Ten." Marik grinned. "What will you do, Pharaoh, if she has to give up her memories?"

Yami didn't answer, watching as Shadi flipped a tile with a lion on it.

And then one with a snake on it.

Jamie sighed in relief.

She flipped one with an arm on it, grinned and touched the one furthest away from her, which she remembered from her last turn was am arm too. "Ten." She breathed heavily, looking at the remaining twenty tiles… before touching the one at her feet. It just had a square on it.

"Damn…" She looked around, frowning and fretting.

"She's seen the other one to that." Marik laughed, "It was the one she was looking for when I got here.

"Shut it Marik." Jamie snapped, slamming her hand down on the tile she thought was the right one. She froze, a look of fear crossing her features for a moment before she schooled it back into a semi calm one. It was the wrong tile. "Shadi."

He stepped forward and touched the same tile, the one with the square on, then calmly walked over to the centre of the tiles and touching the one dead in the middle.

It was wrong too.

Yami watched as Jamie touched the tile with the square on then stood in the middle and looked around, thinking…

"Don't panic, just think…" Yami whispered.

Jamie looked carefully, thinking, and touched the tile just to the left of the centre. It flipped over revealing… a square. "Yes! Eleven!"

Shadi looked amused as Yami let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding.

"You have to leave me alone!" Jamie pointed at Shadi, relief obvious, "That was the condition."

"Indeed." Shadi nodded as the Shadows were dismissed. "I will keep my end of the bargain and will not interfere in your actions any further." He vanished.

"I wish I knew how he did that." Yami growled. "Are you alright, Jamie?"

"I'm fine, thank you Yami." Jamie said, getting down and petting her Glaceon who looked incredibly irritated. "Sorry Aisu, but I couldn't let you interfere, I would have lost."

"Was that a condition?" Yami asked, trying to ignore the fact Marik had just left after giving him an incredibly dirty look and Jamie a speculative one…

"Uh huh, I think he was hoping I would cheat and call Aisu to attack him." She shook her head, "Either he's run into Galactic Grunts or he has a low opinion of Pokémon Trainers."

"I think it's the human race he has a low opinion of." Yami said quite honestly.

Jamie just snorted, "I'm going back to 'Kura's room, I think I'm going to need to sit down in a minute."

Yami nodded, understanding perfectly, "If you need anything."

"I'll call one of the others." Jamie said, and then noted the look on Yami's face. "It's not that I don't trust you, it's that you need to be rested for your big matches tomorrow. Trainer, remember? If trouble comes calling I'll either tell it where it can go stick its head or call Tristan or Duke for help."

"If Bakura wakes up…"

"I'll be fine Yami, I'm just cold and tired." Jamie yawned, "Go to bed." She shoved him towards the doors, "Unless you want Kaiba to beat you tomorrow."

"I won't lose to Kaiba."

"You will if you don't sleep."

"You sound like a mom!"

"Don't insult me, Pharaoh." She twatted him round the back of the head, "Get to bed."

"Are you sure you're going to be…"

"Get!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Fun all around :-s Gotta love scheming Teams and mad Shadow Wielders. **


	11. Betrayal

"Team Galactic! Do you understand your mission?" Commander Mercury asked as she finished her briefing, tossing her imperial blue hair back over her shoulder defiantly.

"Hagh!" The assembled grunts saluted, and departed in ones and twos to go about their new mission until there was only one left.

"You have a question?" Mercury smiled at the remaining girl as she approached. The youngest Grunt in Mercury's operation sometimes required special treatment, but her special knowledge was invaluable when dealing with the injuries and maladies that cropped up so often in this new world.

"The master ball... will it accept you..?" Miko asked, shuffling her feet a little and ducking her head. "I mean... if it's not registered..."

"It'll be fine. I can control it." Mercury reached out to pet her grunt's head, mussing up her black hair. "You won't let me down, will you, Nanoha-chan?"

"N-no!" Nanoha Miko shook her head, looking up at her master with a slight blush. "I would never let you down. Dialga will be yours, Mercury-sama."

"Good." Mercury smiled, dropping her hand to her side. "Go. Let your insects search."

"Un!" Miko nodded, and ran out of the room.

"That girl... she's too young for this. What was Phobos thinking?" Mercury muttered to herself as she watched the bug trainer go. "Blasted man. Well, as long as she's here, I may as well use her." Mercury shook her head and sighed as she went back to her control centre to monitor the situation.

In the aftermath of Battle City, the streets were somewhat chaotic, but while the finalists flew off to Palkia knew where in that ridiculous balloon, it offered a perfect opportunity to her Galactic minions. If only Dialga wasn't such an important part of Cyrus' plan, they would be launching an attack on the undefended Day Care Centre already.

Mercury was loyal to Team Galactic, and believed in the New World with all her heart, but sometimes – just sometimes – she wondered if Cyrus had his priorities straight. Surely destroying their enemies was a far more important task than acquiring the means to complete their so-risky plan, when those same enemies were the main reason that the New World might fail to be realised.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Jamie. Jamie!"

Jamelia growled and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep and ignore the person shaking her awake.

"Jamelia Francis wake up or I'll steal your Pokeballs."

"Go'way 'Kura." She groaned, then paused and opened her eyes to look at him, "'Kura? But you… Slifer!" She sat bolt upright, "Are you alright?" Concern flowed from her, causing her to miss their surroundings.

"I'm fine." Bakura nodded at her and looked around, "You have the biggest Soul Room I've ever visited."

"Soul Room?" Jamie paused to look around, leaning into him. "'Kura, how did we get to the Day Care?"

"This isn't the Day Care, just an image of it." Bakura explained, "I have to say that I'm surprised that this place had become where your soul rests in this short an amount of time."

"What do you mean?" Jamie asked, watching a Butterfree fly past.

"I was expecting to find your soul room was a Pokémon Centre, or the league halls of residence, not this mockery of your world. It shouldn't be. Or are you happy to live the rest of your life in this cage?"

"Of course not!" Jamie protested pulling away quickly, "How dare you? You have no idea of how much I hate being trapped in this glass prison!"

"You must enjoy it somewhat, or your Soul Room wouldn't mirror it."

"It's the closest thing I can ever get to home, ever again 'Kura, you know that." Jamie sank in on herself. Bakura had to suppress a hiss as her hand automatically went to the rope that held the Millennium Ring…

He had to get it away from her before it started tainting her mind like it had his.

He needed her angry, not miserable. Miserable wouldn't get her to give up the Ring, miserable wouldn't have her fighting, miserable wasn't how he could bear to see her…

"So you've given up completely?" Bakura asked, cringing mentally as she just sank lower. _'No, Jamie, get your head together, don't lose it now, not with everything that's going on.'_

"You know as well as I do that there's no path home." Jamie couldn't even muster up enough venom to glower at the floor. "Team Galactic hold the only key, and I'm not strong enough to fight the might of a Legendary. If only there was another power, one that was strong enough…"

So that was what was warping Jamie's mind, knocking all of the self confidence out from under her...

"Jamelia Francis, I thought you were better then this." He snapped, "Retreating to your soul room at the slightest sign of danger, snivelling because you can't think of a plan…"

"Shut up Kura, I'm exhausted." Jamie snapped.

"Why? It's not even like you've had to fight Marik or any of his goons…"

"Please." Jamie glowered at him, "I've spent the entire day chasing down Rare Hunters and Galactic Grunts, defeating both! And that Arceus damned Guardian of the Millennium items had the audacity to force me into a Shadow Game because I was guarding your Ring!"

"Shadi was here?" Bakura's snarl startled Jamie as she watched him get to his feet and pace the bank of the lake. "And he played you?"

"Uh huh."

"Just wait until I get my hands on him." Kura snarled.

Jamie couldn't help the smile that invaded. "Is there a reason you thought you'd come and disturb my sleep, or do you enjoy trying to pick fights?"

Bakura hesitated, deciding the truth was easier in a place where souls were bared, "I need you to give the Ring back to Ryou."

"No." Now she decided to disagree with him?

"You have to."

"Not while he's injured, your host nearly died!" Jamie snapped, "Speaking of hosts, why didn't you tell me?"

"There's some things even you wouldn't believe."

"You could have tried me."

"Even you have a limit on how much you can believe, Jamie. Now give Ryou back the Ring."

"No."

"Don't make me take control. You won't enjoy being a passenger in your own body."

"Arceus damn it 'Kura, what's so important that you can't wait until your host is completely recovered?"

"You wouldn't understand!"

"You're as bad as the Pharaoh!"

"Don't you dare compare me to him!"

"Then tell me what's so important!"

"No." Bakura stormed off.

Jamie beat him to the door. "You're not going anywhere, I'm not giving up the Ring yet and if you think I'm going to let you take control easily, you've got another think coming."

"Get out of the way."

"Why?"

Bakura glowered at her. So she wouldn't fight him on issues he wanted to fight about, but was perfectly willing to stick her big oar in his business? "Last warning. Move." He growled dangerously.

He saw her hesitate, but she stood firm.

He shoved her to one side, and exited the Soul Room, seizing control of her body and looking around. He could feel Jamie's anger and had to fight to keep control, as he spotted Tea, who was watching them… him… closely.

"Marik." Bakura snorted, sensing concern from Jamie when she actually heard what he had said. "I didn't realise you still had your talons in Tea."

"And I see that your toy was more useful to you then I thought she would be." Marik laughed, "Though I have to say that you sound strange in that body."

"What do you want?" Bakura scowled, firmly holding the doors of Jamie's soul room shut, "Don't you have more important things to do, like irritating the Pharaoh?"

"Unfortunately my dark side has taken over my body and I cannot seize control back," Marik growled, "If you want the Millennium Rod, you're going to have to work with me."

"I could easily take the Rod by force, I don't need you."

"You do if you want the secrets of the ancient scriptures." Marik snorted, "Or have you forgotten that I know of a power greater then that of the Millennium Items?"

"I won't duel for you in this body."

"Fine, give me the Ring and I'll hand it to your host."

"You can't!" Jamie forced her way out and gasped.

"Francis." Marik, nodded, sounding amused.

"Ryou almost died in that Duel, you can't…" Then Bakura was back in control.

"Stubborn, isn't she?" Marik laughed.

"Ridiculously." Bakura snapped, trying to work out how to hold Jamie back long enough to get the Ring from her to Ryou. _'If you don't settle down I'll send you to the Shadow Realm myself.'_

He sensed sarcasm, she obviously didn't believe he'd do it.

Well he had one answer, but he was loath to do it. She had her deck on her; he knew which card was her favourite too. He pulled her Frostbite Fox out of the deck, looking, for a moment, at the icy blue fox shown on it. _'I will seal you inside this card if you don't behave.'_

Worried now… Jamie backed off slightly.

Bakura growled at Marik, put the fox card on top of the deck, face up, and lifted the Ring from around Jamie's neck.

Jamie found herself back in control abruptly.

"I'd put it on him." Marik snorted, "Unless you want to be a fox whose fur is the same colour as your hair."

Jamie snarled at him, put the Ring on Ryou, snatched up her deck, Duel Disk and backpack, and left.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Miko sighed to herself as she walked along the deserted, dusty alleyway. Mercury wanted Dialga... she didn't know if the slight administrator was really planning to hand it over, though. Dialga was the sort of power that Mercury had been seeking for since Saturn had been given Palkia to guard. It was well known that the commander of the Otherworld expedition was jealous of her home territory equivalent. If she got Dialga... no, it mustn't happen. Dialga would have to disappear. Miko realised that it was up to her – if she didn't find Dialga before another Grunt did, Cyrus would have won and she would never see her home or the Professor again.

Failure meant living in Team Galactic's world, a madman's paradise without freedom or love. Without Raven or any of Miko's extended family who lived in the meadows of Goldenrod. Losing them would just be too painful. It hurt already, but at least if she succeeded now, she would be able to go back to them.

Since her father had left them six years ago, the young Miko had spent almost all of her time playing in the meadows of the game park. Her mother hadn't had time for her, always absorbed in her work or with the latest in a string of boyfriends. Despite being a normal, unattuned human, Miko had befriended the insect pokemon of the meadows through sheer childish innocence and perseverance, though her relationship with them hadn't crystallised until she had taken Fuujin, who would have otherwise been left to the elements, and raised him where his mother had been unable to.

Only the most stubborn of Farfetch'd would attack her in her home where she was protected by Insects and Birds of all kinds, but here she had never felt more alone.

"Fuujin... Demise... Hiryu..." She called forth the three flying Pokemon. "Please... lend me your strength... find the Master Ball." She told them, and her three loyal friends nodded before scattering.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Jamie found herself wandering the corridors of the blimp.

Sure she could go to her friends for the night, sleep on their floor, but she didn't want to disturb Yugi or Joey and she didn't really feel like being on the receiving end of their 'I told you so' when she told them when happened.

She wasn't really sure what to do. In theory she should go to Yugi, warn him that Tea was still under Marik's control and that Bakura was going to fight Yami Marik… but she didn't want to disturb him, not considering it was likely that Yugi would have to fight Marik's dark at some point if 'Kur…Bakura… lost…

She growled in frustration and stopped to think.

She really had three choices, go and wake up Yugi and tell him what was going on, go and wake up Joey and try to squeeze into his room with the others and try to avoid telling them what was going on, or sleep in the corridor.

The options were taken out of her hands as Tea rushed past, stopping outside one of the doors.

"Tea!" Jamie snapped.

"I have to tell Yugi."

Jamie shook her head, "Tell him in the morning."

"But Bakura's missing!"

Damn it, why did everything come back to that irritating, self absorbed, git? Jamie could bet her last 10 Pokedollars that Marik had sent her to wake Yugi up and throw him off of the duel tomorrow. "I'll find him." Jamie hissed. "Go get some sleep and **don't**," She heavily emphasised the word, "Disturb Yugi. If he's too tired he won't play well tomorrow and he has to win."

"Jamie…"

"I'll find him. I promise."

"Alright…"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"This is..." Miko smiled, softly. "Thank you... Kaida." She looked up at the Dragonair that was curled around a lamp-post. It was dark, the lights were just coming on, and Kaida had just dropped the black, white and pink Master Ball into her waiting hands. Miko frowned, suddenly, then looked up at her. "Shouldn't you be with the Wheelers..?" She asked, concernedly.

"Aaa." Kaida sang, uncurling herself and doing a little dance in the air before giving Miko a disgusted look.

"Of course, I'm sorry. You can travel that distance in no time at all..." Miko had the grace to blush and drop her gaze to the small orb in her hand. "Wait..." An idea came over her, and she smiled before looking up at Kaida. "Would you... do me a favour?"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Dartmoor, England.**

Well… this hadn't been quite what they'd been expecting when they'd been sucked up by that vortex…

Colwyn looked around, taking in their surroundings.

The greater majority of Cyan City had transferred with them, though it didn't look like they'd weathered the transportation well, and he wondered… no feared… to know just how many people had been inside…

"Col!" Colwyn, long used to his friend's nickname since they'd been friends before they'd been trainers, just turned to look at Awena.

"What Awena?" Colwyn poked, careful not to call her Dia, which was her nickname for her friend, the Chosen of Dialga, since she'd been sensitive about it with the attacks, not that he, as Palkia's Chosen, had much to say about anything at the moment.

The Chosen were beginning to go into action, having been in hiding for the last month or so, joining the resistance groups who were springing up around the Pokémon World.

The Cyan City group had been the second oldest of the network, two and a half months old, beaten only by the Celestic Town branch, which had been set up almost three months ago.

That one had been founded by Kayla, Ho-oh's Chosen, who had since disappeared, and to their knowledge, the branch was still going, just as they had been until they'd been ratted out and their base attacked by Team Galactic.

The question was now, where exactly where they and how, exactly could they find out.

Awena had another one; she wanted to know how her Pokenav still had a connection.

Colwyn looked around, assessing who was here and who was injured. "Role call" He snapped, running a hand through her hair.

Awena watched the twelve year old take a head count, wondering when they had become the leaders of the group, and then started organising teams to help those in the buildings.

Colwyn had been a lot less confident and competent back before the attacks, but he'd had to become stronger to face up to the other Chosen of the CSL, when his Legendary had been captured.

"Col?" Awena saw the look on her friend's face.

"I'm fine." He sighed, "But we need to find out where we are."

"Col…"

"We have a responsibility to these people, to make sure that they're alright before we go exploring."

"But…"

"No. We'll help these people first." Colwyn smiled wearily, "Come on, let's go."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Jamie didn't want to watch, but she couldn't leave, not now.

Kaida had come flying down the corridor, badgering Jamie until she'd let the Dragon type into Joey's room, and by the time she had reached the Duelling Platform, Marik and Bakura had already been playing a Shadow Game.

The Shadows were much thicker then before, and Jamie had been freezing and finding it hard to breathe, at least until Bakura, who had shouted at her for a while for coming up here, had done something that had caused the Millennium Ring to glow, and created a glow around her.

Bakura had been winning too, right up until Marik had summoned Ra from the graveyard and was now about to win.

There wasn't much left of her friend… Bakura had been fading away during the Duel, the more life points he lost or gave up, the more he vanished into the darkness…and if Ra attacked…

"Bakura…"

The Tomb Robber heard her worried cry. He hadn't wanted her here, had fought with her to stop her being worried about him, had even threatened her with being trapped in her Frostbite Fox card to make sure that she stayed well away while he fought with Marik… but she had somehow ended up here anyway…

And now he was going to lose…

"Say goodbye to your girlfriend, Bakura!" Dark Marik was laughing, "I sacrifice all bar one of my life points, to increase Ra's attack by the same amount!"

Ra's attack points rose to 2999, more then enough to defeat Bakura in one fell swoop.

"No…"

"Ra, destroy him!"

"Bakura!" Jamie cried as the flames incinerated the Tomb Robber. He cried out in pain, but it cut off as he vanished along with the last of his life points.

The Millennium Ring hit the Duelling Platform.

Jamie scrambled onto the platform as Marik stepped forward. "No you don't!" Jamie snatched the Ring up, "You're not having it."

"You know the rules, child." Marik laughed, "The spirit of the Millennium Ring taught you the Rules of the Shadows to the point that you know them better then the Pharaoh does. That Millennium Item belongs to me now."

"I don't care." Jamie scowled, putting it on. "I'm not letting you take Bakura's item."

Marik smirked, twisting the top of the Millennium Rod and pulling the dagger out of its sheath, "You will hand it over." He said, pointing the dagger at her, "Or you'll end up where the spirit of the Ring went."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"What?" Mercury shrieked, standing up from her chair and slamming her hands down on her steel desk. "You let it get away?"

"I... I'm sorry, Mercury-sama..!" Miko cringed, whimpering. "I... it was your Dragonair... the one that..."

"Pfeh." Mercury scowled. "It's no Pokemon of mine if it showed such blatant disloyalty." She straightened and started pacing. Miko could almost see the darkness gathering around her master as Mercury's battle aura started to flare up. Miko dropped to her knees and bowed low.

"Please... I meant no disrespect... I..." She stammered, trying to deflect her master's fury away from her.

"You what?" Mercury wheeled to glare at her.

"I... think there may be a way..." She mumbled without looking up. "To get it back..."

"Oh?" The older woman asked, dangerously, moving closer.

"The Dragonair... has chosen a human... his name is Joseph Wheeler." Miko told her, praying that Mercury wouldn't ask how she knew. "He's a Duellist..."

"A Duellist?" Mercury frowned. She thought she knew where the bug trainer got her information – after all, insects could get everywhere. "Ah, that card game they play." Mercury smiled, darkly and slowly, seeing where this was going. "They like to play for stakes, do they not?"

"Yes, Commander..." Miko dared to look up at her, eyes wide with fear and hope. "It's... likely that Dragonair will have given the Master Ball to Wheeler by now... if someone were to challenge him to a Duel for the Master Ball..."

"He would be forced to give it up!" Mercury punched her fist into her open palm, smirking evilly. "This may be better than my original plan... no-one will question my right to watch over Dialga if I take it from my enemies personally." She reached down to ruffle Miko's hair and smiled at the glasses-wearing girl. "Nanoha-chan... I have a little task for you. I'm going to need a duel disk, and a deck to go with it."

"As you command, Commander Mercury." Miko bowed low again, before rising and stepping away.

"Oh, and Miko?" Mercury called after her, making the trainer turn in curiosity.

"Yes, Commander?" She asked, pausing.

"Make it... a cute one." Mercury smiled, innocently.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Dark Marik actually looked frightened as Jamie held the blade of the dagger to his throat.

"You die, Mai and Bakura come back. Why shouldn't I put you down right here, right now?" Jamie snarled.

"Because you're not a murderer." Jamie's gaze snapped to the side of the duelling arena, where Yami was stood with an odd expression on his face. "You shouldn't stain your soul with his blood."

"When did you get here, Yami?"

"Give me the dagger, Jamie."

"When did you get here?"

"Just before you picked up the Ring." Yami answered, walking forward carefully. "Give me the dagger."

"He's the cause of all of this." Jamie scowled, "I let him up, he'll just hurt more people. He dies, you and Yugi are safe and Bakura and Mai come back."

Yami hesitated. He couldn't let her do it. He didn't think she would, if he was honest, but he'd been expecting her to crack at any moment, had been expecting it for weeks, but now it had happened, he had to tread carefully. "Jamie, I'll deal with Marik. Just give me the dagger."

"And what if he goes after Yugi next and you can't help him?"

"I won't let it get to that." It didn't help that he could understand her reasoning, though he wouldn't have admitted that had Yugi been awake.

Marik was watching them, as Yami extended his hand to take the dagger from Jamie, unsure how, exactly, he had ended up on the floor with that crazy teenager pointing his own dagger at him when a moment before he had been threatening her with the aforementioned weapon.

The vessel wouldn't let the Pharaoh kill him, Marik was certain of that much.

The teenage Trainer, on the other hand, had lost the plot…

"If you kill him, you'll get the Death Penalty." Yami warned her, aware that she was too young to receive such a punishment, but also aware that she wouldn't know that. "I will stop him, I swear on my honour as a Duellist, just give me the dagger."

Jamie scowled and handed Yami the dagger. "Duellists' Honour better mean as much to you as my honour as a Trainer does to me." She said.

"It does, now go." Yami dismissed her, watching as she took the Millennium Ring with her. Then it was him who had Marik at dagger point.

"You won't kill me." Marik was unafraid now, and was beginning to get angry that he had let the girl intimidate him. She wouldn't have done it. Her hesitation once the Pharaoh had appeared had shown him that…

"No, I won't." Yami agreed with a dark glare that made the looks Marik had been getting from Jamelia look tame in comparison, "But only because there are too many cameras around here and it would be Yugi who ended up in prison."

"You're supposed to be a good, kind ruler."

"There's a reason I have Yugi." Yami smirked, his best 'I'm evil, don't underestimate exactly to what lengths I'll go' smirk, that threw Marik for a loop. "Be grateful to my hikari, since he is only one who is stopping me from finishing what Jamie started."

"You wouldn't…" Marik hesitated.

Yami felt Yugi stirring, he needed to end this quickly, "This is a last warning to you to stay away from all of my friends, Marik, because I only have to be careful when Yugi's awake. That doesn't mean I can't hunt you down later…"

Marik watched him turn and leave, tossing the dagger to one side of the blimp before he vanished into the lift.

Marik scowled as he picked himself up and recovered the two pieces of the Millennium Rod, twisting them back together.

The Trainer had more then startled him; he'd made the mistake of underestimating her, since she looked younger then her actual age, and didn't look like much of a threat. He certainly hadn't expected her to threaten his life.

The friends of the vessel of the Pharaoh were normally a lot less likely to do something like that, inflict bodily harm yes, actually try to take someone's life, no… the child from the Otherworld wasn't to be underestimated…

But then she wasn't really the Pharaoh's friend, was she? She was the friend of the Tomb Robber he had just banished to the Shadow Realm, and he obviously befriended a more dangerous group then the Pharaoh did…

Speaking of the Pharaoh, that had been unexpected.

He'd always been taught that the Pharaoh would be a good and benevolent ruler… in other words, weak and pathetic, but 'Yami' had certainly shown a side he hadn't done so far in any of their previous clashes…

The Pharaoh thought that he could scare Marik, and for a moment, he would admit that he had been frightened. But he wouldn't allow himself to get into that situation again. Tomorrow he would eradicate the Pharaoh once and for all, along with his host.

And then the next would be that Trainer bint.

Then his hit list got very long, very quickly.

And why stop at ruling one world?

If Team Galactic wanted the Shadow Magic so much, they would have to work for him…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Jamie." Jamie's head shot up as Yugi entered the room, pausing to consider her. "You ok?"

"I don't know." She said, "How much did Yami tell you?"

"Marik defeated Bakura." Yugi said, sitting next to her, "And you took the Ring before Marik could."

"Marik didn't hurt me." Jamie reassured the teen, who was older then her by just a year, "Can I speak to Yami… privately?"

"I'll stay in my Soul Room." Yugi nodded, giving her a small smile, hoping that this was a step towards Jamie forgiving the Pharaoh. Yami opened his eyes and looked at her with an odd, calculating look. "Are you alright?"

"Is Yugi listening?"

"No, he's shut himself in his Soul Room, giving you the privacy that you asked for."

"He's a good kid."

"I know."

There was silence for a moment and then, "I… I need you to know that…I wouldn't have… I've never…" She shuddered, "Weapons aren't… I've never been that close to actually… I would have…"

"I understand. Marik threatened your life and sent people you like and respect to the Shadow Realm." Yami nodded, "You've been so calm about this whole ordeal."

"Ha." Jamie snorted. "That's what you think."

"You wouldn't have gone through with it. You don't have the darkness in you necessary to be a murderer."

"I've used scare tactics before. I bet Tristan told you that I threatened to have Iblis and Tsunami eat the Death Eaters who were chasing Duke, Tristan and Serenity."

"He hadn't, but thank you, for protecting them and getting the information that saved Joey's life."

"You're not going to…"

"There's a reason I didn't wake Yugi up."

"You're not as nice as you let the others think, are you?"

"I'm darkness, and Yugi knows it. That's why I have my hikari, he's the light to my darkness."

"Light and Dark, the balance, right?"

"You don't know the yin and yang?"

"Bakura told me about it, light cannot exist without darkness and vice versa." She sighed, "Yami…"

"I don't blame you for threatening Marik, but it would be a good idea for you to stick close to us until he's defeated."

"You didn't kill him then?"

"No. I couldn't risk it."

"Because Yugi would have been put to death…" Jamie understood, "You promised me you'd stop him."

"I will, I keep my promises."

Jamie nodded and looked around as Yugi took over again, "Can I sleep here tonight?"

"Sure, you can have the bed."

Jamie frowned at the voice change, then smiled slightly, Yugi looked like he wanted to do nothing more but go back to sleep, "No. I'll be fine on the sofa, they're more comfortable then some of the beds I've slept on. You're competing, you need the bed."

"Jamie, if you want to talk…"

"Maybe tomorrow, once you've gotten some sleep. Now go to bed." She said, settling on the sofa.

"Night Jamie." Yugi led down on the bed.

"Sleep well, Yugi."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Part of this chapter (all the Nanoha Miko bits) was written by Ray Venn Hakubi as I wanted to use the OC they had created. Having someone on their side in Team Galactic on this side of the dimensional wall certainly is a good idea... anyway, this chapter brought to you by lack of sleep, enjoy.**


	12. Virtual

Yugi was woken up by the sound of the shower in his en-suite bathroom.

Without even thinking he was out of bed and reaching for his Duel Disk before the events of last night caught up with him. He looked at the sofa, which was bathed in the morning light that was trickling through the window.

It was empty.

'_Easy hikari, Jamie slept worse then we did last night.'_ Yami sent, appearing in spirit form and looking towards the shower.

"_I don't blame her…" _Yugi sighed, lying back down on the bed. _"Yesterday was insane."_

'_We will stop Marik today, I swear Yugi.'_

"_But what if we don't draw his number next? What if…"_

'_Then we'll just have to trust in whoever ends up fighting him. Marik isn't invincible…'_

"_It just seems like it …"_ Yugi trailed off as the bathroom door slid open, revealing Jamie in a completely different set of clothes, a towel wrapped around her head and the Millennium Ring hanging around her neck. "How do you fit everything in that backpack?" He asked, sitting up.

"Years of practise." Jamie shrugged, tugging the towel so it came loose and let her wet hair fall over her shoulders. She ran a hand through it, "I seriously need to get my hands on some pecha berry conditioner…" She grumbled, "You ready for today?" She asked, fascinating Yugi by opening her already overfull backpack and managing to find her hairbrush without pulling everything out.

"As ready as I can be." Yugi nodded, "You can leave that towel hanging over the chair if you want."

"Thanks." She did so as he sat up, "What do you think about the match ups? You're the one everyone wants…"

"I know." Yugi sighed.

"It'll be fine Yugi, you'll win no matter who you fight." She attempted to be reassuring while wincing as she pulled the knots out of her hair, "Now I remember why I tie it back when I'm travelling." She complained.

Yugi laughed, though it was short and nervous and made Yami give him a worried look.

Jamie yawned, "Any idea what time we're going to stop?"

"No clue." Yugi shrugged as he pulled on his jacket and shoes and watched, semi-amused, as Jamie made a few adjustments to her clothes, added her gloves and belt, which held her Pokeballs and her deck box, and sorted out the Ring.

She was certainly different when she looked the part of Trainer, which she hadn't yesterday, but the Duel Disk she was adding to the ensemble looked out of place.

"What's wrong?" She asked, noting the look on Yugi's face.

"The Duel Disk…"

"Doesn't suit me, I know." Jamie sighed, "I'm a Trainer first and a Duellist second, that's the way it's always going to be, and I'd rather not wear this cumbersome thing but if Marik tries anything outside the arena, I'd rather be ready. After all Marik claims to be a Duellist."

Yugi didn't say anything, just followed the girl out of the room and along to the dinning room, where a breakfast buffet was set up.

"I'll eat with you later, I've got to feed the walking stomachs first." Jamie snorted, releasing the smaller ones, picking out food that was right for all of them and putting it in bowls on the floor to one side of the room, before gathering a small pile and heading up to the top deck.

Yugi followed. "You need a hand?"

"Oh yeah, supposed to be sticking close, huh…" Jamie snorted, amused at herself. "I could do with one, if you'll feed Iblis, I'll feed Tsunami, though to be fair I reckon I could release him into the ocean below us and he'd keep up."

"He's that fast?"

"We're not travelling particularly quickly and the water is his home." She released both Pokémon, who turned expectantly to them. "Breakfast time." Jamie snorted at the eager look on Iblis's face, "You've been spoilt at that Day Care haven't you?" She asked the Charizard, who shook his head. "Yugi's got your food." She told the Fire/Flying type and then turned to her Water/Flying type who looked at her, "And I have yours."

She gave the Gyarados the food she'd picked out and then turned to give it an appraising look. "Think you can keep up with the…" The blimp shuddered and tilted sideways for no apparent reason, making Yugi and Jamie cry out as they were thrown over the railings.

In a heartbeat Yami had taken over and had grabbed Jamie's wrist with one hand and the railing with the other, in two heartbeats Iblis had flown underneath the pair, flying upwards, allowing the pair to stand on his back, while Tsunami wrapped himself around the Duelling Platform.

"Are you alright?" Jamie asked Yami as she returned Tsunami and Iblis took them over to the lifts, which were on a diagonal and straightening out.

"Fine." Yami hissed, holding his right shoulder.

"Yami, let me look." Jamie scowled, "Can you move it?"

"We have to find out what's going on." The Pharaoh growled, showing her he could move his arm, cringing as he did so, as Jamie returned Iblis to his Pokeball and they headed down into the blimp.

"Doctor, now." Jamie glowered at him, pushing him in the direction of the infirmary.

"But…"

Just be glad that it wasn't your left arm, you'd never be able to hold a Duel Disk with a bad shoulder." Jamie pushed him into the infirmary, and then headed to the dinning hall to recall her Pokémon before racing down to the cockpit. "What the hell's going on?"

"That's what we'd like to know." Joey growled, looking around. "Jamie have you seen…"

"Yugi's in the hospital, he hurt his shoulder when we got thrown overboard just now." Jamie scowled, "Iblis saved our rears, so I want to know why we're flying so erratically."

The blimp shook again.

"Make it respond!" Kaiba snapped.

"But it's refusing to accept any of our commands!" The goon in the pilot ship growled.

They were on forced cruise control for around half an hour, by which point Yugi, who no longer had his jacket on, but had bandages around his shoulder, joined them.

"Thank you, Yugi." Jamie bowed to him.

"It's alright, really." Yugi nodded, making her smile at him.

"Thank you."

"You alright Yuge?" Joey asked.

"Doctor says I pulled a muscle, but it wasn't dislocated or anything like that." Yugi said reassuringly, "What's going on?"

"I can't regain control!" The guy in the pilot seat finally gave up as a kid appeared on screen and a huge aqua base appeared from the ocean.

"Who are you?" Kaiba growled.

"My name is Noa." The kid was smirking. "I've been observing you. I'm in control of your blimp and I'll be calling the shots around here."

"Return control to my pilot now." Seto barked.

"Always barking orders…" Noa snorted, "I'm putting an end to your stupid tournament."

Jamie was suddenly very glad that she had her Pokémon on her and she hadn't sent Tsunami to go hunting, she ran a hand through her hair as Seto and Noa growled at each other.

The blimp was forced to land on the aqua base.

"_I don't like this, I don't like this at all."_ Jamie growled. Her eyes widened as she felt…something… in response to her thought.

"Thanks for dropping in Seto." Noa sounded irritatingly smug, as the blimp was taken down into a hanger, "Time for you and your friends to exit the blimp."

"What if we don't?"

Guns extended from the sides and pointed at the blimp. "Refusal is not an option."

"This kid's nuts!"

"You all stay here." Seto growled.

"Kaiba?" Yugi asked.

"This doesn't concern you Yugi." Kaiba glowered at him, "Mokuba, you are not to leave this ship."

"But…"

"Noa," Seto turned to the screen, "I'll be coming out alone, any questions?"

He opened fire on the ship. "Care to reconsider your position?"

"We're coming! We're coming!" Joey yelped.

"Noa, I want to check on my friend in the infirmary before I leave, is that alright?" Jamie asked, looking at the screen, her hand on the top of the Ring.

"You have ten minutes, if you do not leave the blimp in that time, I will open fire."

"Alright." Jamie nodded and turned to the others, "I'll meet you in nine minutes."

"Be careful." Yugi nodded.

Jamie raced up to the infirmary poking her head in the door. "Is Mai alright?" She asked, entering carefully and helping the Doctor pick up his things.

"No change, but she's stable, the blimp twisting didn't change anything."

"Thank Arceus…" Jamie breathed.

"Can I help you with anything?" The doctor asked.

"No, thank you. I'll be leaving now…" Jamie left, leaning against the wall outside and checking the time on her Pokenav. Four minutes… "Bakura?" She asked out loud, hand on the ring, thoughts going at a mile a minute. _"Bakura?"_

Something stirred again, but she didn't have time to poke it further, she had to get downstairs and down to the others.

"HAUNTER!" The ghost type decided now was a good idea to leap out at her from nowhere, Pokeball in hand.

Jamie shrieked and then swatted at the ghost type, wondering how a ghost could hold something. "Is that Flygon's Pokeball?" She asked it. It nodded. "I want you to guard the infirmary; can you do that for me?"

Haunter looked like it was considering it.

"Please Haunter? I'll let you scare Marik silly when we get back."

Haunter grinned and nodded.

"Thank you." She raced down, exiting the blimp with a few seconds to spare. "Ok, I'm ready guys."

"Mai alright?" Joey asked.

"Stable, no change." Jamie scowled, wondering if Marik was still onboard the ship.

"This way please." Noa's voice echoed around them and a set of lights glowed, leading to a passageway and into another huge room.

"Show yourself." Seto demanded as they looked around.

Jamie hung back, sticking close to Serenity.

She trusted Yami to be able to protect Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Duke didn't need protecting, and Seto could keep Mokuba safe. She didn't trust Duke or Tristan with Serenity's protection though, they were too busy trying to get her to date them and Joey was sticking close to Yugi.

Someone was laughing.

Jamie's blood ran cold. They were out numbered… possibly surrounded… this come somewhere near the top of her list of ways things could turn very bad very quickly and it wasn't a short list.

"Who are you?" Seto snarled, then his eyes widened as he saw who it was. "No, I trapped you in the virtual world!"

"I recognise them from somewhere!" Yugi yelped.

"They're the suits who tried to kill Seto and take over Kaiba Corp." Mokuba growled as the five guys in suits snickered at them, "The Big Five. Gansley, Crump, Johnson, Lector and Nesbit."

"They were hired by my step-father and were Kaiba Corp's board of directors, but that wasn't enough power for them, so they trapped me in my own virtual environment and tried to destroy me."

Jamie growled, unimpressed.

"When they lost, they were imprisoned in the virtual world instead of Seto." Mokuba explained.

"What do you want?" Yugi growled at the images of the big five.

"Revenge, revenge on Mr Kaiba and you, Yugi Muto, for trapping us in the virtual nightmare." Gansley growled.

"And how exactly do you expect to intend to do that trapped inside a computer?" Set sounded both irritated and sarcastic at the same time.

"We're going to hold a virtual Duel Monsters tournament." Nesbit said, "And when we win, we will escape with your bodies."

"Never." Jamie hissed.

"No one's taking control of my body again!" Joey shouted.

"Now to take a trip to our special virtual duelling environment!" There was an incredibly bright light and there were multiple responses, most of which seemed to involve shielding their eyes in someway, and then there was a blue tunnel and everything went black.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Noa had several screens going at once, with various bits of data running simultaneously, absorbing all the knowledge at once.

This was the beauty of having your mind linked up to a super computer; downloading information like this was easy and already he was matching up dates and times to events around the world, including that one at 11pm BST in the south west of England.

What he was more interested in at the moment though was the data he was getting through on the group that the Big Five were introducing to the rules of his virtual gaming environment.

He knew all about Kaiba Seto and Kaiba Mokuba of course, there was no new information on them; he'd been following their actions through the Kaiba Corp mainframe so long that he could anticipate their next actions, but had been unable to interfere until now due to outside influences.

Wheeler Joseph was a wild card, there wasn't much available data on him, as Seto had considered him beneath his notice and he wasn't particularly important in business circles beyond Pegasus Maximillian's interest in the group as a whole.

Wheeler Serenity was a completely new factor in this game; he had no data on her, beyond the fact that she was Joseph's sister, and Pegasus had made a note in his systems about her operation, which had apparently been paid for by the prize money won by Muto Yugi during Duellist Kingdom.

Speaking of Muto Yugi, Noa had a lot of data on him from both Seto and Pegasus's computer systems, but from the data that Noa had stolen from Kaiba's security cameras aboard the blimp, there was much more to worry about with that teen. Noa had no idea of if it had been in defence of Francis Jamelia or whether it had been in response to Ishtar Marik's attacks on his friends, but Muto Yugi had responded in a way that the data had claimed that he hadn't reacted in almost three years.

Seto had made sure to catalogue every incident, between his first duel with Yugi up until Death-T and there had been a lot of them, which, from what Noa could gather, had only really stopped just before Duellist Kingdom and while Seto had been careful to hide all this data behind a firewall which he himself breeched rarely, it had been easy to piggy back into the system to find it from Noa's position.

Gardener Tea wasn't a particularly big issue, she was more skilled then a couple of the guys in the group, wanted to dance and beyond that there wasn't much accurate data on her. Crump thought he'd managed to pick some up, but it was wrong.

Noa, however, didn't see the need to correct him. Either the data was good enough and Crump would win, or it was Crump's fault for not coming to him and attempting to hack through the system's mainframe himself.

Taylor Tristan wasn't worth mentioning. He didn't see how even the most incompetent of Duellists would have trouble with him considering that he'd been a spectator but never a Duellist.

Devlin Duke wasn't someone he particularly wanted dragged into his plans. He was a good Duellist and a skilled Gamer. He had to be considering that he ran his own Games Company and had to keep his name up among the much better recognised names in the Duelling Circuit.

And that left Francis Jamelia.

An intermediate level Duellist who had been in Battle City, but had been unable to get enough locator cards in time, if it hadn't been for her unusual back story, Noa wouldn't have given her a second look.

Mind if it hadn't been for her unusual history she wouldn't have been aboard the blimp at all.

The Aspiring Pokémon Champion from Littleroot Town was an oddball; violent and vicious, but also caring and compassionate depending on who it was and what mood they caught her in. Seto had gigabytes and gigabytes of data on the Trainer, her skills, her Pokémon, her 'Chosen' powers, her odd DNA… all in all Kaiba Seto had not been remiss in getting her history when he had hired her to run his precious 'Day Care', a project that Noa would see continued, if only because, with the world wide incidents, it would put Kaiba Corp ahead of the whole situation.

He had decided, looking at her height, weight, skills, looks and abilities, that she would be the best bet for a body for himself.

Alright she was the wrong gender, but she was the right age, the right build, had hair that he could deal with, had powers that meant that he wouldn't have to worry about drowning and already had a well trained team of Pokémon that would answer her call alone.

And considering that Kaiba Seto would soon be controlled by his pawn and he was planning on manipulating Kaiba Mokuba's mental data, it would be easy to put Kaiba Corp in his hands. He could change the data over the moment that he was in her body, all it would take then was for 'Seto' to sign the paperwork and he had ways of making sure that happened.

And if he couldn't take her body for himself and Lector failed, Noa would just take Seto's instead and play with Jamelia's mental data, making her his obedient servant, or defeat Muto Yugi and take his body...

He had plans upon plans upon plans; Noa wasn't going to be caught short if one plan fell apart.

But he wouldn't lose.

There was a beeping sound.

The Duellists were being loaded into virtual pods, their minds downloaded…

So step one began, divide and conquer.

Where were the best places to put them in his virtual world?

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

'_Get up.'_

Jamie groaned.

'_What am I? Your alarm clock? Get. Up.'_

Sapphire eyes blinked and took in their environment. _"A coliseum?"_ She asked the voice, deciding that if she was going crazy then she might as well reply to the voice in her head.

'_Don't be dense, this isn't real, it's virtual.'_ The voice replied as she looked around the coliseum, which looked so much like the stadiums back home that she had a sudden pang of homesickness.

"_Like the duelling holograms?"_ She asked thinking of her foxes and how they didn't seem as real as this.

'_Kind of, but the whole environment's made up of them and your virtual body has to conform to the rules of the world you've been placed in.'_

"_Oh."_ Jamie paused, it couldn't be… _"Bakura?"_

'_Who did you think it was?'_

"_Figured I was going crazy." _She replied, _"Marik…"_

'_Marik banished my host, I simply retreated to the Ring.'_ Bakura answered.

"_You can get the other you back then?"_ She asked, right hand going to her belt, which was irritatingly empty. "Arceus damn it, they've taken my Pokémon!" She cursed out loud.

'_Virtual!' _Bakura snorted at her, _'They probably didn't have time to program them into the system before they captured the blimp.'_

"_They've split us up."_

'_Divide and conquer, it's an ancient strategy.'_ Bakura answered, _'They'll probably go after the strongest first, Pharaoh and his host, little Yugi.'_

"_Then I have time to leave the stadium and find the others."_

'_It won't be that easy and you know it. You'd be better off waiting here. You win your match, you'll go free.'_

"_Yeah right, like they'll let us go. I'd rather find the others. Safety in numbers and it's worth a shot. I will __**not**__ sit here like some Metapod, just waiting for the Trainer to throw the Pokeball." _

'_...'_ She sensed Bakura's feelings on the matter.

"_Trainer and dragon. I don't do the sitting still and letting the bad guys get away with it. Remember? That's how I ended up here in the first place."_

'_Just make sure you let me assist you in anything stupid.'_

"_I am perfectly capable of getting out of stupid situations."_ She scowled, looking around and considering her options. The best bet, she decided, would be to climb up onto the lowest spectator ring and leave from one of the many spectator exits.

'_This is no time to get short with me.'_

"_Don't you deserve it after what you threatened to do to me?"_ She growled as she started climbing.

'_Hosts shouldn't stick their noses in where they're not wanted.'_

Jamie let go, falling back onto the sand and sat exactly where she'd fallen. _"What did you just say?"_

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Joey groaned and stood up, taking a look at his surroundings.

He was in the grounds of a mansion of some kind and he was completely and utterly alone.

"Man, he complained, I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore." He breathed as he tried to get his bearings. "Serenity?" he bellowed, "Yugi? Tristan? Tea?"

There was no reply and Joey growled as he figured out the bad guy's plan.

"We're stronger as a team…" Joey grumbled. Of course it would make sense that an enemy who wanted to steal their bodies would take every opportunity to give themselves the advantage and this would include separating those who were good duellists away from those who… "SERENITY!" He bellowed.

His sister hadn't played any duels, she'd had it explained to her and shown as best as he and Jamie had been able to the night before her operation, but Serenity had never played a game herself.

Well the answer was simple. If she wasn't here then he was going to go look for her. No bad guy was going to stop him from protecting his little sister, no matter what it took.

He was going to make sure that he, his sister and his friends got out of here in one piece and then he was going to do something drastic to that Noa kid for trapping them in this virtual world.

He was not going to let Serenity down the same way he had let down Mai.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Dust, dirt, rocks and gravel…

"Great, just great." Tea groaned, "No one's around."

She was walking down a canyon, in what felt like blazing sunlight, wondering what, exactly, they had gotten into this time.

"YUGI? JOEY? TRISTAN? SERENITY?"

No response.

"ANYONE?"

There was the sound of foot steps behind her.

"Hello…?" Tea turned to ask nervously.

Something huge, green and with one eye roared at her.

"Ahh!" She screamed and ran.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Serenity was walking down the edge of the river, calling for her brother.

He had been there a moment ago, but then he had fallen into that hole, then she had fallen and then they had arrived into this weird world and…

"JOEY?"

It seemed peaceful enough and while she hoped that it was stay that way, she couldn't trust it… those creeps had said that they wanted to duel, but she wasn't a duellist, she could just about remember what Joey and Jamie had taught her, but other then that she had no idea…

How could she beat someone in a duel to stop them from stealing her body, when she hadn't played a duel in her entire life?

"Joey? Anyone?" Serenity called, watching the swans for a moment and flinching back when the spray from them landing hit her face. "That's cold… how is it cold? I thought this was all virtual…"

The swans turned towards her at the sound of her voice, but besides that, there was no reply to her calls…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Inside the castle, not that far from Serenity's location, Tristan and Duke was discussing the best way to escape from the corridor.

Duke's was the most reasonable. Keep walking until they found a door.

Tristan, however, wanted to attempt to knock down a virtual wall with a virtual axe.

This discussion didn't look like it was getting anywhere fast.

Just like Tristan and Duke, who didn't realise it, but were trapped in a corridor that was in fact designed to loop around and around an infinite number of times, so it didn't matter how far they walked, it was all the same corridor…

"I'm telling you, our best bet would be to break out of here!"

"And how do you suggest we do that, this entire virtual world is Noa's playground! He won't have made this easy!"

"We have an axe, this is a game Duke; it has to be used for something."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Seto! Seto, are you alright?" Mokuba asked, shaking his brother awake.

Seto groaned and sat up, looking around at the virtual forest that they were in.

"I've been in better moods," He replied casually, "And you?"

"I'm fine, I think." Mokuba responded, "Where are we?"

"Noa's virtual world." Seto growled, testing the realness of the grass by running a hand through it. This was high quality work, even the dew felt real…

"Seto?" Mokuba asked.

"It's nothing." Seto got to his feet, "Just stick close."

"Right." Mokuba nodded and the pair walked down the mud path.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

'_You alright Yugi?'_ Yami asked as Yugi looked around the clearing.

They were stood at the lake's edge, looking to see if their friends had been dropped anywhere nearby.

"_I think so, for the moment at least."_ Yugi replied, "TEA? JOEY? TRISTAN? JAMIE?" He called out loud, worry gnawing at him when he had no reply.

'_I'm sure they're fine.'_

"_For now!" _Yugi replied, _"What if the big five find them?"_

'_We'll find them Yugi, just don't panic, that's exactly what they want us to do.'_

Yugi's eyes widened as suddenly a burst of water rose from the fountain and a Duel Monster was left in its place. _"Here we go…"_

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"_Is that all I am to you? Another host?"_ Jamie demanded with real viciousness to her tone.

'_Don't take that tone with me, you're the one who refused to return the Ring to Ryou, you're the one who was so eager to host me!'_

"_Because I thought we were friends!" Jamie snapped, "Should have known better then to trust a Tomb Robber."_

'_Friends? Friends! Like I would be friends with a mere mortal!'_

"_So you've been using me the whole time? Just as a potential host? Or was it another way to get 'his highness' too?"_

'_Like I need your help with that fool.'_

Jamie snorted, _"So has it all been a trick? The help? The Pokémon? Did you only save my life because it would be inconvenient if I died?"_

'_I saved your life because I felt like it at the time, don't count on me doing it again!'_

"_Fine!"_ Jamie stormed, staring to climb again, _"But be warned, this is me officially changing my mind on allowing you to fight Yami Marik in my body to get your proper host back! You'll just have to rely on the Pharaoh!"_

'_Fine. It's not like you could trust a thief anyway.'_

"_Well I won't make that mistake again!"_

'_Like befriending anyone is anything but a mistake.'_

"_If you didn't need my help with Yami, why did you even approach me in the first place?" _Jamie asked as she pulled herself into the spectator's stands and looked around for the nearest exit.

'_I didn't want your help! I wanted you far far away! I didn't want you anywhere near...'_

"_What do you mean?"_

'_I didn't want you to see.'_

"_See? See what?"_

'_Gods of Egypt, you are dense sometimes.'_

"_Then explain. You're stuck with me for a while, so at least explain why you've been befriending me for the last few months and have been trying to push me away during Battle City…"_

'_I will have my vengeance. I have sought justice for five thousand years.'_ Bakura hesitated,_ 'I didn't want you getting buried in the fallout.'_

"_Fallout?"_ There was no reply though, Bakura was refusing to answer or had retreated to the Ring for the time being. _"Bakura, what fallout? What could possibly be worth holding onto this much anger for over five thousand years?" _No reply… _"'Kura?"_

She sighed, wondering if it was bad that where once she would have relished time by herself, she found being on her completely on her own, with a ghost who had decided that he no longer wanted to talk to her possibly her least favourite thing in the world…

She found the exit. "Gotcha."

To say that she was less then amused when she walked through the door and teleported back into the centre of the coliseum would be a rather large understatement.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - *grumbles at Noa***

**P.S. As an apology for having to work for far too long on my coursework, I've updated Sunlight and Mantle of Leadership too. **


	13. Split

"Yugi, why have you taken over for me?" Yami asked, not sorry for a moment to gather himself and recover briefly, but surprised to be shoved out of control. It had only happened once before, and it wasn't a moment Yami was particularly proud of.

"I just figured you could use a rest, you know, to recover from all those direct attacks. One more blast could have destroyed you, so I jumped in." Yugi replied, smiling at his partner, having seized control when Gansley had attempted to attack them directly…again.

"Thank you," Yami nodded, "You were very brave."

"Don't thank me, you should thank Kuriboh," Yugi giggled, looking at the Duel Monster who looked rather pleased with himself, "Without his special ability we would have both been finished by now."

"That's true, something's are more powerful then they first appear." Yami considered the fuzz ball, but was more referring to Yugi's inner strength then anything.

"You can say that again," Yugi missed it completely, "Kuriboh turned out to be the most valuable monster on our side of the field so getting him as our Deck Master wasn't just some trick Gansley played on us in order to win." The teenager grinned, poking his dark side after he'd been rather rude over the link when he'd realised he couldn't understand Kuriboh's speech.

"No, you're right, it was the Heart of the Cards that guided Kuriboh to us." Yami nodded, eyes closing. So tired, and hurting so much from the direct attacks, that even as he was worried about Yugi, he was grateful that his hikari had jumped in.

Yugi groaned, his eyes closing. Yami's eyes snapped open at both the sound and the sudden wave of exhaustion and agony that slipped through the barrier he had put between himself and Yugi and was coming from the hikari himself.

Yugi's knees gave out from under him and he toppled forward.

"Yugi!" Yami seized control without thinking, both to stop Yugi's body from hitting the floor and to send Yugi back to his soul room to recover. He'd been so busy blocking his own pain from reaching Yugi, he hadn't realised that Yugi had been going through the same thing.

It was with surprise that he had to reach out and catch the teenager's spirit. That shouldn't have been right… "This duel has affected you too, let me finish this." He said softly, his tone full of concern. It was a tone of voice that only Yugi could elicit from the harsh and cold Pharaoh.

Yami had to hide his concern when Yugi didn't stir, not willing to show weakness to their enemy, even in the face of Yugi's current state.

The weight of the young man's spirit weighed heavily on Yami's arm as he turned back to their enemy, his harshest scowl on his face, "Alright Gansley, this duel's not done."

"Your furry little powder puff blocks one attack and you think you've won?" Gansley sounded highly amused, smirking at them across the battle field as Yugi finally faded into his soul room, "I'm afraid nothing could be further from the truth, thanks to the Deck Master rule, now that you've activated Kuriboh to defend yourself, you've introduced him to the playing field. That means I'm now allowed to attack your little furball and according to the Deck Master rulebook, if your Deck Master is destroyed you lose the duel and your Kuriboh is no match for my serpent so this match is over."

"Last **I** checked," Yami snarled, ready to defend his hikari, no matter how bad it looked. "It was still on!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Well, I'm pretty sure that was the last door." Jamie scowled, looking around the arena. "And don't say I told you so, Kura."

Bakura didn't say anything; he hadn't for the last couple of hours, not since their…discussion… earlier.

Jamie sat down on one of the seats and looked around.

This stadium reminded her so much of home that it hurt.

She wasn't stupid, she was fully aware of the odds of going home and remote didn't even begin to cover it.

She was one of the strongest Trainers in the world… but she was no match for Palkia…

And it was only through Palkia's power that she could ever get home.

"I don't want to be here anymore." Jamie curled in on herself, head on her knees, "I want to go home, I want my family… I want…"

"Do you mean to sound like a petulant child?"

Jamie's head shot up and she glowered at the kid in front of her, with his short green hair and blue eyes and that irritatingly smug expression.

"Me, a petulant child?" Jamie snarled, getting to her feet, feeling Bakura stir at her rage, "Compared to you, Noa?" The boy watched her without a trace of fear, "Who sealed us all in this virtual hell because you want someone else's toy?" She snorted, "You are the petulant child here."

"It was never Seto Kaiba's in the first place." Noa hissed, glowering at her. Compared to Yami and Bakura's glowers, or the glares of the Galactic administrators, it was tame, "Prove me wrong." There was a glow and a Duel Disk appeared on Noa's arm, "Duel me and earn your freedom, just as Yugi has, or flee and prove you were never fit to earn the title you covet so much."

"You'll take my body if I lose, won't you?"

"When you lose, you mean."

"_Kura, I may need your help here…"_ Jamie scowled at the child in front of her, "I won't lose. I'm going to go home eventually, but to do that I need to get out of this virtual nightmare."

Noa vanished and reappeared in the centre of the arena. Jamie vaulted over sides and landed back in the arena, walking over. "Ready?" Noa smirked at her.

"How can I duel when my deck is with my real body?"

"Pick your cards." Noa waved and cards started scrolling in front of her, "Try not to miss any good ones." He wasn't concerned, Yugi was trapped in one of the virtual mazes, Tea was heading towards the frozen north, on her way to face Crump and he had time, "Try not to let any good ones slip past."

'_Make sure you pick a humanoid card for your Deck Master.'_ Bakura said, she could sense him hovering over her shoulder and looking at the cards, _'One that works well with your deck, but is human enough to be able to talk. You're going to need it.'_

"_What would you suggest?"_ Jamie asked, already in the process of building her deck from the cards that were flying up in front of her.

'_Take that one.'_ Jamie touched the card, the last one in a forty card deck.

"Okay." Jamie looked at Noa, who looked like he was contemplating something, "That's all my cards."

"Now pick your Deck Master." Noa said, as the deck she'd picked out appeared in the deck slot in her Duel Disk.

Jamie shuffled through the cards, looking for the one that Bakura had suggested… there it was. "I pick Kitsune Maiden." Jamie called. The Duel Monster, a human looking young woman in little clothing, with fox ears and five rather bushy red and white tails appeared at her side, with a small giggle and a smile for her partner. "What's yours?"

"You'll see." Noa replied, activating his own Duel Disk and looking through the cards. "You may go first if you wish."

"No thanks, I prefer second turn."

Noa gave her an amused smile and nodded, "Very well, I'll go first then." He put the deck back and Jamie gasped as a shadow appeared over the arena. It was a huge boat, floating in mid air. "Normally I'd have my Shinato's Ark in water, but since we're in the middle of the desert…"

Jamie, who was trying not to feel like it was going to fall and crush them both nodded her understanding.

Noa drew, "I play two cards face down," He looked at her, "You're so concerned with getting home, you've missed all the signs that there are others from your world being left in ours, but it's alright, I'll remedy that mistake when I leave here, in your body. I set a card in defence mode."

"What do you mean? Others from my world?" Jamie demanded, drawing, "I set two cards face down and then I summon Fox Shadow, in attack mode!"

The black fox appeared, shadows rolling off of it like smoke, glowering at Noa.

"That ends my turn."

"Is that all?" Noa sniggered, "Your puny shadow is no match for my monsters. I summon Chiron the Mage in attack mode."

The centaur glowered at her fox.

"And I use Raigeki Break, discarding one card from my hand to destroy the spell card on your right." Jamie's Spellbinding Circle exploded.

"Chiron the Mage, destroy her fox!"

"Ha!" Jamie grinned, "I activate Transformation!"

Shadow Fox vanished, replaced by a fox with icy blue fur that shone in the light, which shrugged off the attack and blasted Chiron away with a wave of snow, causing Noa's points to drop by 900.

"What did you do?" Noa snapped.

"Transformation allows me to tribute a fox card in order to summon a higher level one." Jamie sniggered, "Allowing me to swap my Shadow Fox for my Frostbite Fox."

"That ends my turn." Noa scowled.

'_Nice opening moves, but anyone can take the lead early; it's keeping it that is the difficult bit.'_ Bakura told her as she drew and the pair considered her hand, _'Tidal is your best bet next.'_

"_Right…"_ She looked up from her cards, "I summon Tidal Fox in attack mode, using its ability to return your left hand face down card to your hand."

Noa scowled but the card returned anyway.

"Now if my addition is up to scratch, my Frostbite Fox and my Tidal Fox have enough points to win this duel." Jamie grinned. Frostbite had 2400, while Tidal's was 1900 and if you combined that with the 900 points that Noa had already lost, the duel was over. "But before I attack, I need to know. What other people from my world?"

"Humans, and Pokémon, being deposited all over the world, and you've been so content with the life you've built up around yourself, that you've been ignoring the signs." Noa snarled, unable to understand how she'd managed to get him to this point already.

"You know nothing about me." Jamie glowered, "Foxes, wipe him out!" The pair attacked and rebounded off of a barrier that appeared in front of Noa, making Jamie scowl. "Let me guess, trap card."

"Hallowed Life Barrier." Noa sniggered, "It prevents me from taking any damage from the effects of your cards this turn."

Jamie growled and nodded, surprised as Bakura came to her side and considered her hand. _'That's all you can do…'_

"That ends my turn Noa, but next time I'm going to win."

Noa drew, considering his hand, "You know I'm going to win. This is my world, and there's nothing you could do to stop me from messing up your deck's data…"

"You wouldn't do it though, not if you wanted to prove yourself better then Seto." Jamie snorted, only slightly worried at his idle threat. "Cheating proves nothing."

Noa shrugged, wanting her off guard and off her game, "I set a card face down and set a card in defence mode and that ends my turn."

"Do you have a strategy?" Jamie asked, sensing Bakura's question, confused as to what exactly Noa was trying to accomplish. "I draw."

"I activate the trap card Shadow Spell!"

"Shadow Spell?" Jamie asked, growling as chains shot out of the floor and wrapped around her Frostbite Fox, taking it's attack points down to 2000. "What did you do to her?"

"Your Frostbite Fox can no longer attack or switch to defence mode, plus she loses seven hundred attack points."

Jamie considered her field, before sacrificing her Frostbite Fox for her Cloud Fox, "And I use Cloud Fox's special ability to summon Forest Fox." There were now three monsters on her side of the field. "Forest Fox, attack his face down card!"

The grassy furred fox rebounded off of a Giant Soldier of Stone.

"Cloud Fox, take it down." The fox that resembled little more then a cloud took it down easily. "Tidal, attack him directly!"

Noa's points dropped to 1200.

"You must have a strategy!" Jamie protested, "Bad guys are not supposed to be this easy to defeat!"

"I haven't lost yet!" Noa protested, annoyed at Jamie's quick dismissal of him.

"But… your cards have no rhyme or reason to them!" Jamie pointed at where his Giant Soldier of Stone had been, "And you don't appear to have the combos to back up such a random style of game play!"

'_Jamie please stop prodding the virtual entity in charge of releasing you.'_ Bakura sighed at her.

_"It's like playing against someone with Metronome, you never know what they are going to pull, and half the time it's useless."_ Jamie complained to Bakura

"Is it my go or not?" Noa demanded.

"Just go."

"I play Fissure." Noa growled. A fissure opened, and a hand popped out, pulling Forest Fox to be sucked under the ground before the fissure snapped shut. "Then I play one card face down. Then I summon Giant Rex!" The 2000 attack point level four dinosaur appeared. "Destroy her Tidal Fox!"

It exploded and took two hundred points with it.

"Your move."

To Jamie this just seemed to confirm her suspicions. "I set a card in defence mode and use Cloud Fox's ability to special summon another Forest Fox to my field."

Jamie was back up to three monsters while Noa only had one. "Cloud Fox, attack!"

The t-rex died, taking 300 points with it.

"Forest Fox, win this!"

"Activate Earthshaker!"

"What does that do?" Jamie squeaked as the ground shook and the sand tried to pull her down.

"I choose two attributes, and you get to pick the attribute that gets destroyed." Noa explained, "I choose Earth and Wind."

That made sense, Cloud Fox was Wind while Forest Fox was Earth. She hesitated. She'd lost one Forest Fox already, so logic would dictate that if she wanted to get her Seven Tail Fox out, she'd need to keep that, but if she lost her Cloud Fox, she'd only be able to summon one monster per turn…

'_You're forgetting that if you keep Forest Fox, you can win the duel here and now.'_

"I'm sorry Cloud, but I choose to save the Earth Element."

Cloud Fox vanished.

"Now, Forest Fox, let's try this again, attack Noa directly!"

Forest Fox leapt at Noa, attacking to end the duel.

Something exploded.

This was strange considering that Forest Fox's attack didn't explode.

Forest Fox came back to prowl in front of her.

"_He's not done, is he"_ Jamie asked as the smoke cleared.

'_Probably not.'_ Bakura admitted.

Noa was still standing when the smoke had drifted away into the clear desert sky. "Are you quite done?"

"How did you survive?"

"I just discarded a card from my hand and its special ability kicked in, protecting my life points."

"Just go."

"I discard a card from my hand to call two Thunder Dragons from my deck to my hand and then activate Polymerisation."

The two dragons appeared briefly, and then were replaced by a rather large twin headed orange thing with a huge purple horn on each head.

"_Uh oh."_

"Twin Headed Thunder Dragon, attack her Cloud Fox!"

It exploded, causing her points to drop to 3300. This was fine if you compared it to Noa's 900 points but… she didn't have much that could destroy a monster with that many attack points.

"Your go." Noa looked amused.

Jamie drew and scowled at her hand, "I set a card face down and end my turn."

"Now who's not trying?" Noa sniggered at her. "Twin Headed Dragon, attack her directly!"

Jamie squeaked and threw up her arms to protect herself, only to be surprised when the lightening the dragon had shot at her collided with a wall of will-o-whisps.

"I'll protect you." Jamie's head shot to her right, where her Kitsune Maiden was looking at her with an odd expression, somewhere between fear, concern and something else she didn't recognise.

'_She's hungry for a human that can understand her.'_ Bakura explained, _'A few of the Duel Monsters get like this when they haven't been out of the monster world in millennia.'_

"_Monster World?" _Jamie asked, then smiled and nodded at the Maiden, "Thank you."

'_There's a world of monsters out there, it's another alternate dimension.'_

"_Oh."_ Jamie supposed that made sense, there probably were many alternate universes out there, she'd just got stuck in this one.

It was Noah's turn to be irritated, "I take it that your Deck Master saved you?"

Jamie looked at Kitsune Maiden questioningly, noticing one of her tails had vanished.

"I can prevent five direct attacks on the player, but to do so I have to give up a tail." The Maiden sounded rather mournful about that.

"Sorry." Jamie apologized to her.

"It won't matter after my next turn anyway." Noa grinned at her, confident in his victory. "Thanks to the Deck Master rule. Now Kitsune Maiden's been activated as a Deck Master, I can attack her and once she's gone, you lose."

"Damn…" Jamie's eyes flickered to the Maiden. She was no match for Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon.

'_You can still win this, think and draw the right card.'_

Jamie looked at her hand then looked at Noa, "Can our deck masters attack once they've been put into play?"

"Yes."

She drew, "I play Reincarnate Fox Spirit, bringing back my Frostbite Fox!" She called, the fox appearing on the field and pacing the field. "And activate my face down card, Kitsune Clan, increasing her attack by five hundred."

This made Frostbite stronger then Twin-Headed.

"Frostbite, attack Twin-Headed!" Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon roared and exploded. "Kitsune Maiden, take Noa down!"

The maiden transformed into a fox and bit Noa, before returning to both her Duellist's side and her humanoid form.

Noa's points finally hit zero.

"Finally." Jamie sighed in relief, "Now let me out of here, Noa."

"How did I lose?" Noa was asking himself.

"I told you, you had no strategy, you just kept throwing monster after monster at me, and you can't beat a well built deck like that." Jamie scowled at the kid. "You need to have a…why am I even talking to you?" She asked him, though it was a rhetorical question rather then one she wanted an answer for, "I've won my freedom, Noa, let me out of this virtual nightmare."

Noa glowered at her, startling her as he rushed forward putting his hands on her stomach and pushing, actually entering her virtual body. "If I can't win your body I'll just take it!"

Jamie felt Bakura surge to the fore, to protect her and then her mind was invaded by memories.

A village burning.

Priests, priests of the Pharaoh…

An army slaughtering hundreds… no not hundreds… ninety nine…

One had survived the horror…

There was a blindingly bright light and Noa was repelled, pushed back a few of yards.

"What are you?" He was demanding.

Bakura was furious, and had taken control, standing between Jamie and the child. The Trainer herself was in too much shock over what she had seen to respond, or to notice that Bakura actually had a form here and was busy swearing at Noa in multiple languages.

He'd had many hosts over the years and had to pick up many languages from them, and all of those rude words he'd been saving up seemed appropriate now.

"Arceus…" Jamie breathed, sinking down in semi-visible form, ghost like but not invisible, "No wonder 'Kura hates Yami…"

"You alright?" Bakura turned to look at her, with a rage in his eyes that terrified her even though she knew wasn't directed at her, "Jamie?"

"'Kura…what was that?"

"This punk just found out how bad an idea it is to try to steal a body from someone who has more then one soul within them." Bakura snapped, unaware of what she meant while glowering at Noa, who looked somewhere between pissed off and fascinated. "And it looks like he's holding your body hostage somewhere."

"What are you?" Noa demanded again.

"I'm a Thief and a stealer of souls and this is a Aspiring League Champion." Bakura was smug.

"That's not what I meant!" Noa snapped. "What are you? No normal human…"

"Whoever said we were normal?" Bakura smirked, "You should check your victim's history more carefully."

"How are there two of you? I only downloaded her mind into my virtual world!" Noa pointed a shaking finger at the ghost of the girl, who was still in shock over what she'd seen.

_Yami's on our side, one of the good guys…_ How could Joey claim that? There was no way that a Pharaoh who had ordered his army to do that could be classed as a 'good guy'. How could Yugi trust Yami as much as he did?

"You download one you download the other." Bakura shrugged.

How could Yugi defend Yami? From what she knew of Yugi, there was no way that he would support Yami's ancient actions… the Ring hung heavily on her, as the fact that she was wearing a mystical item forged in gold and blood and souls permeated her mind.

"Are there others, like you?" Noa demanded.

"There's no one like us." Bakura answered honestly.

"Let us out of here Noa!" Jamie demanded, suddenly very angry, shooting to her feet and becoming solid in a heartbeat, "You said if we won we could leave."

"You'd leave your friends behind?" Noa looked amused as Bakura looked at the girl who was stood up, eyes widening as he saw the girl still sat on the floor shocked, lost in thought.

"Ra damn it." He hissed, realising what had happened. He'd been waiting for the Ring to pull something to gain control over Jamie, had known it would happen sooner or later, but hadn't expected the Ring to do to Jamie what it had done to so many hosts before her.

Stood-Up-Jamie hesitated, as angry as she was at Yami, she couldn't blame the others for crimes he had committed five thousand years ago. She wasn't even aware of the shocked Sat-Down-Jamie behind her. "Release us." She hissed, tone darkening, glare really quite impressive.

"I will, once you've found your friends." Noa smirked and vanished, though his voice stayed for a moment longer, "Though from here on in, I'll be watching."

Stood-Up-Jamie vanished and Bakura knelt down next to the Jamie who was still sat down and had become solid. "Jamie, are you alright?"

"'Kura, I don't…" She hissed suddenly and went to remove the Ring, causing Bakura to grab her arm.

"Don't." He advised, "You still need it."

"I can't… not knowing what it is…"

"What do you mean, knowing what it is?" Bakura scowled, causing Jamie to flinch. "What did you see?"

"I…" There was a flicker and Bakura found himself face to face with a girl that he didn't know how to deal with.

This wasn't Jamie as he knew her, it never would be again. The Millennium Ring had reacted to the threat of an invasion of the mind from someone who had failed to rightfully win possession of the item, protecting itself and using Jamie's shock and anger as an opportunity to do to her what it was rapidly becoming obvious that most of the Millennium Items would do to their wielders, splitting them into two, the light and the dark, yami and hikari, just as the Millennium Items had done to the Pharaoh and Bakura back in Ancient Egypt, Alexander the Great during the Roman age and Marik just a couple of years ago.

The Millennium Items had been formed as part of a pact with a Shadow Demon, Zorc, gifting their wielders with powers beyond imagining, so say in order to defend Egypt, but it had come at the cost of almost a hundred lives, and Bakura had sworn revenge for each of those lives over five thousand years ago.

The newly formed 'dark Jamie', looked at him, anger flickering behind midnight blue eyes, "Was it true? What the Pharaoh did to create these?" She asked, holding up the Ring.

Bakura hissed, grabbing her by the collar, "What did you see?"

"Kul Elna." The two words made Bakura drop the Trainer who sat on the floor and gave him a look he couldn't read, "It is, isn't it?"

"Yes." Bakura hissed out the word, looking away unable to face the girl.

"How many?" She demanded. "How many lives were sacrificed to create these…things?"

"Ninety-nine." Bakura replied, the answer dragged out of him, "I was the only survivor."

There was silence for a moment, then the sounds of Jamie getting to her feet, then she was stood in front of him, sapphire blue eyes catching his brown ones. He made a mental note to keep an eye on that... sapphire for hikari Jamie, midnight blue for yami Jamie. "I'm so sorry 'Kura."

"For what? You weren't responsible." Bakura growled.

"I had no idea…" She hesitated, "He hasn't told Yugi, has he?"

"He doesn't remember." Bakura replied, knowing who she meant without having to ask. "At least, that's what he claims. That he has no knowledge of the past." Bakura snorted, "Besides, it would break the runt, to know what created the item he wears."

"Yugi's…" Jamie shook her head, looking down at the Ring.

"You shouldn't have worn it." Bakura told her, "But it's too late now."

"Just promise me that you won't hurt Yugi. It's not his fault that the Pharaoh's hurt a lot of people."

"I can't keep that promise, Jamie. If I have to go through Yugi, I will."

"Bakura…" Jamie sighed, "At least promise me you'll try to avoid hurting Yugi if you can help it."

"You cannot hold me responsible if the runt throws himself in the way." Bakura growled at her.

"No, I can't." Jamie acknowledged. She sighed again, not knowing how to explain, "And I won't… just…"

"It cannot be helped, Jamie, haven't you ever hurt someone because they were in the way?"

"No."

"Could you swear that you would never harm anyone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time in the future?"

"Of course I…"

"Jamie." Bakura stopped her short. No, this Jamie wouldn't, she would hold back, even if it meant losing, that's what the light did, but the other Jamie, the dark one, the one that was all of her killer instincts, and the Jamie that had once been, might have, even if it was just by accident.

"'Kura…" She hesitated, "Let's just find the others. The sooner we find them, the sooner we can leave and the sooner I can find out if Noa was telling the truth about the other Trainers."

A door appeared in front of them.

"This just screams trap." Bakura looked at it.

"No choice. All the exits from the stadium lead back here."

"Let's go then."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"It's so cold…"

Yugi's hands balled into fists as Tea's voice echoed around the maze they'd found themselves trapped in. "Tea!"

Yami took spirit form, glowering at the four walls. "Noa's letting us hear her just to torture us… a cruel trick."

A shriek, not Tea's caught their attention, and in half a heartbeat Yugi was on the floor, sprawled with someone on top of him.

"Yugi!" Yami would have darted forward, but he was all too aware of his inability to interact with the real world.

"I told you it was a trap." Bakura said, appearing solid and helping Jamie to her feet.

"What?" Yami stared as Yugi sat up, slightly stunned.

"This whole thing is in our heads." Jamie indicated herself and Yugi, her tone cold, "We're bound by the laws of the game world but the game world doesn't have programming to deal with people who are hosting another soul."

"Wait, you couldn't see or hear me before…"

"Gods he's thick."

"Kura."

"I'm going." Bakura vanished again.

"I get it," Yugi said as Jamie helped him to his feet, trying to ignore Yami, "Yami and Bakura are beyond the rules of the game, so they can do pretty much whatever they want, because when they come out, they have avatars that don't have any pre-programmed definitions and their presence messes up our code too." He turned to look at Yami, "Which explains how you caught me when I shouldhave just faded…"

"And why I didn't just take over when you passed out…" Yami nodded, wondering why Jamie's eyes darkened when she looked at him. "I got my own avatar..."

"I don't know how much longer I can hold on."

"Tea!" Yugi's head snapped up, the conversation temporally forgotten in his fear for his friends, "Where are you?" He looked around desperately, "We have to find her, now!"

He ran at a door of light.

"Yugi, no!"

The light grew and hit Yugi with an arrow of it, sending Yugi flying across the room, passing through Yami, and hitting the floor hard.

"Yugi," Yami helped him sit up, reluctant to take the advice of the Tomb Robber, but thankful he could do this much. "We have to think this through."

"Can't you pass through it?" Jamie asked.

"I think I get what we're supposed to do." Yami said, ignoring her question and looking at the doors properly. "I think there's a one star monster behind that door so to get through, we have to defeat it."

"How do you figure?" Yugi asked.

"Look above the door."

There was a rectangle with one star in it.

"Makes sense I suppose." Yugi nodded, drawing a card.

"Use your lower star monsters to start with." Jamie suggested, "In case we need our higher ones for later."

Yugi nodded and drew, smiling at the card, "Celtic Guardian, attack!"

He destroyed the monster that was hiding in the one star doorway.

"Let's go."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Ummm, okay, so this chapter is full of 'fun' things. Jamie is now aware of the events of Kul Elna, though not the full story, and now understands Bakura better. Poor teen though… **

**Before anyone says anything about the 'other Jamie', I noticed a pattern with the wielders of the items. The Pharaoh was split into two, and he became Yugi and Yami. It split Bakura into two, and he became the Tomb Robber Bakura and Ryou, the Ring split the soul of Alexander the Great according to Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters (though as far as I can tell, they didn't have separate names until the dark side possessed Alex Brisbane) and Marik gained his 'evil side' after close contact with the Millennium Rod. **

**It may not be strictly true for some of the other items, but those three certainly seem capable of splitting their wielders and poor Jamie got caught in the middle. **

**Damn plot and consequences of character actions… you'd have thought that once the plot was settled, it wouldn't decide to throw new consequences at me wouldn't you?**

**First it was Harry's link to the Muto 'twins' and events with Kari in the Harry Potter/Yu-Gi-Oh! Crossover and now Jamie… *facepalm* I like writing but I'm going to end up crazy… crazier at this rate… **

'**Yami Jamie' isn't like Yami and Bakura, she's not an ancient spirit, she's like 'Yami Marik' the darkness within Jamie separated from the light within her. It's more like Jamie now has Multiple Personality Disorder then she's possessed. **

**Both Yami Jamie and Hikari Jamie are Jamie, it's just that Yami Jamie is her battling, raging, obnoxious, obsessive, possessive side while Hikari Jamie is her naive, innocent, trusting, caring, helpful side.**


	14. Oneesan

"Negate Attack!" Jamie's voice echoed down the corridors.

They had been progressing through the maze at quite a reasonable pace until they had started reaching the doors that had, not only high level monsters guarding them, but three of four magic and trap cards defending them as well.

They were up to eight stars and three magic or trap cards now, so either this was the last door, or they'd be in real trouble on the next one as they were currently facing Tyler, the Great Warrior, who had successfully inflicted extra injuries upon them every time it had destroyed one of their monsters, protecting itself from their magic and trap cards with it's own.

"I've already used Frostbite Fox and Reincarnate Fox Spirit." Jamie complained, "And it destroyed Third Eye before I could activate Kitsune Clan. Seven Tail Fox could beat it but I've used all my really low level cards up."

"I have an idea." Yugi frowned, thinking of how difficult it would have been to summon the Queen of Foxes anyway, "I've only got one thing that can match it, but I need you to distract the door monster until I can get it out."

That hadn't helped matters, unlike the other doors, this one had counter attacked the moment the first attack had died down and had been merrily blasting away at their monsters ever since.

"How many stars do you need?" Jamie asked, as Yugi pulled his Black Luster Ritual out of his deck.

"Eight."

Jamie quickly drew, "I can give you five but…" She looked at the door with a scowl, exhausted from the feedback from the destruction of her monsters, midnight blue eyes flashing angrily, as she saw there was still one face down card left, "It'll be destroyed the moment it comes out..."

"We'll just have to be quick then." Yugi nodded.

"I summon Cloud Fox, in attack mode!" Jamie called.

"I summon Sangan and then activate the Black Luster Ritual!" Yugi's fiend attempted to combine with Jamie's beast.

An attack came from the doorway, trying to destroy one of the two before the ritual was complete with little success, Black Luster Soldier stood before Yugi, glowering at the door, counter attacking and exploding at the same moment as the light which had been blocking them from getting through, surprising Jamie who had expected the last face down card to go off.

Yugi ran through, closely followed by Jamie, following the corridor straight along until they reached another room.

An empty room.

With no doors or windows…

"A trap?" Jamie asked.

The question was answered as the floor disappeared from under them and the pair fell into darkness.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Tea didn't know how much longer she could hold out; the ice was up to her hips, she couldn't get through Crump's giant ice golem, with its ridiculous defence point total of 2450, and her own life points were at a disadvantage, if you compared her 1500 to Crump's 1850.

_Yugi…I need you…_ She shivered as she drew, colder then she ever been before, shaking badly as she realised the two cards in her hand were of no use to her. She looked to her Deck Master, the Dark Magician Girl, who nodded, "If you send me out onto the field, I will protect you." The girl who had been the apprentice of the Dark Magician nodded.

"I have nothing else I can do." Tea nodded in reply, "It's my last chance," She turned to Crump, "I move Dark Magician Girl to the field!" She called, as the Spellcaster in question darted between Crump and her Duellist.

"Don't you realise that if she's destroyed, you'll lose?" Crump asked, highly amused, "You must have a pathetic hand to make that move." He drew, using a spell card to recall the Penguin Torpedo that he had had to send to the graveyard because he'd used it to attack Tea directly last turn.

It gained the two hundred attack point boost that all of his water monsters gained due to his deck master ability.

Then it struck again, bypassing the Dark Magician Girl by diving underneath the freezing water, and striking Tea for another 750 points, points she couldn't afford to lose.

She missed the flash of light as two Duellists were trapped inside a nearby cave that had somehow, naturally been formed by the ice in the area, close enough to be able to watch, but far enough away that even if their noise could have travelled through the glasslike ice, she wouldn't have heard them.

Yugi was on his feet first, ignoring the cold around them as she spotted Tea, now frozen up to her shoulders, facing down a rather unfrozen, completely unbothered looking penguin, shivering as he tried to break his way through the ice.

"Tea!"

Jamie's head shot up at Yugi's cry, but she didn't move from where she had fallen, unable to just shrug off the cold as Yugi had done. She knew it was all in her head, but her avatar was programmed to respond to the cold the same way a normal human body would, giving Jamie more of a chance then she realised, with the fear of getting sick again plaguing her mind.

There was a reason she had left Snowpoint Gym, in Sinnoh, until last and had never, ever gone to Fiore or Almia. As a part dragon she couldn't tolerate the cold, and if it hadn't been for her Eevee becoming a Glaceon, she would have died on Route 217.

Tea had no idea they were there, she was too busy worrying about her Dark Magician Girl's inability to get through Crump's defensive line.

"Tea," The Dark Magician Girl half turned to look at her, "There is a card that can save us…"

"What do you…?" Tea was confused for a moment, and then remembered the first card she'd picked, "Sage's Stone!" She gasped, "But I don't…" She looked at her deck, uncertain that one, she could draw the card she needed and two, that she could reach her deck to draw in the first place, considering how her arms were frozen in place.

"I can help you." The Dark Magician Girl reassured her, "By activating my Deck Master ability."

"Do it." Tea nodded.

The Spellcaster closed her eyes, focusing and glowing with a bright pink light, part of which entered the graveyard and exited with the four monsters that had been sent to the Graveyard during the Duel. "I've formed a Soul Circle with the four monsters in your graveyard," She explained, "Which allows you to draw four cards from your deck."

The cards floated out of the deck holder on the Duel Disk and hovered in front of Tea, letting her get a good look at what her Deck Master's ability had given her.

Polymerisation, De-Spell, a weak level two monster and…

She grabbed Sage's Stone as best as she could, putting it, incredibly carefully, into a magic and trap slot on the Duel Disk.

She knew what it did, called a Dark Magician from either her deck or a deck of a Duellist nearby, but she had been forced to discard her own Dark Magician card halfway through the duel, long before she would have been able to get him onto the field.

In the ice cavern, Yugi had to back up a purple glow shot out of his Duel Disk and took the form of the Dark Magician, who bowed to Yugi and Yami, the latter of whom had come out to stand guard, in case of one of Noa's tricks, "Dark Magician?" Yugi asked, surprised, since he had adamantly refused to be drawn out of the deck when they had been fighting in the maze.

The ice wall was blown apart by a Dark Magic Attack, the shockwaves of which sent Yugi, Yami and Jamie sprawling, and the Dark Magician joined his apprentice on Tea's side of the battle field.

Tea looked in the direction the Dark Magician had come from, but couldn't see anyone. She had no idea it was because Yugi and the others were still picking themselves up.

Crump panicked.

"Double Dark Magic Attack!" The Dark Magician Girl sounded rather too triumphant as she yelled those four words, the Dark Magician's power blasting easily through Crump's Ice Golem and the Girl's attack reducing Crump's life points to zero.

Crump screamed from the power of the blast as his virtual body disintegrated.

The ice disappeared from around Tea.

The Duellist in question was unconscious before she hit the floor.

"Tea!" Yugi darted out, Yami having returned to the Puzzle, to get to Tea's side as Jamie walked slowly towards the new entrance to the cave, retreating quickly as a gust of icy wind brushed past her.

'_You're not going to join them.'_ Bakura stated.

"_Can't…"_ Jamie shook her head, unwilling to stay in here, but not wanting to face the cold either.

'_You don't go out there; you're going to attract Noa's attention.'_

"_I'm a Dragon, we die in the cold!"_ Panicked sapphire eyes followed Bakura's form to the entrance to the cave, where he watched Yugi bring Tea around before turning to look at her.

'_Switch with me.'_

"_What?"_

'_I don't fear the cold, switch with me.'_

Jamie needed little prompting, vanishing instantly, leaving Bakura out and about and rather grateful that Jamie's mental image of him was the one that mattered here, since it meant his form was closer to his normal one, as opposed to taking control in the real world, where he'd a girl because Jamie was.

He exited the cave and was amused to see that Yugi switched with Yami almost instantly.

"B…Bakura?" Tea yelped. "How?"

"Jamie's carrying my item for safe keeping." Bakura replied, "I'm simply taking advantage of this fact."

"Where is she?" Yami growled.

"Where do you think?" Bakura replied sarcastically, "Where exactly would I send her out in this frozen wasteland?"

Yami glowered but helped Tea to her feet, refusing to turn his back on the Tomb Robber even for a moment, leading to a moment, when they were trying to cross back over to what passed for the mainland here, when Yami didn't want to go before Bakura, Bakura was hanging back just to irritate the Pharaoh because it was funny, and Tea ended up on the other side, waiting another ten minutes for either of them to cross.

"Could you switch with Jamie?" Tea asked, when they got across finally, not wanting to have to deal with this for however long they were stuck here trying to find the others.

"No."

"Why?"

"Aren't I allowed to stretch my legs?"

Yami clearly wanted to say no, and Tea looked as if she wasn't sure how to react to that comment.

"I'll let her out when I'm done." Bakura shrugged, continuing inland, away from the ocean.

"Does Jamie know what she's gotten herself into?" Tea asked Yami, who, when prodded by Yugi, offered Tea his jacket, and then followed the Tomb Robber, if only to make sure that he didn't get into any trouble that could affect Jamie's chances of getting out of here, trying to ignore the fact that he was now the only one not in a jacket and that his vest top was not a particularly smart thing to walk around in in this climate. "Fine, don't answer me."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

They were on their way home.

The League had cancelled the Hoenn League Conference just a week from the big competition, sending hundreds of Trainers away, hundreds of Trainers who had worked harder then they ever had before to earn their badges and make their way here through all the controversy and attacks, hundreds of Trainers who now, somehow, had to make their way home or to a nearby League friendly city, and there weren't many of the latter left.

They'd actually invited a group of about thirty or forty Trainers to come back with them, since this was their home turf. They were new Trainers by the standards of the group coming back with them, Trainers who had left home for the first time only a year and a half ago, but they had the knowledge and one of their number had a slight advantage, considering that her starter Pokémon was had in fact been a present from her old sister, who had been an Aspiring League Champion back when this whole incident had kicked off.

The large group of Trainers were currently camping for the night, just outside of Slateport City, where they had arrived by ferry just two hours ago. From here they would pass through Oldale Town, and then head down to Littleroot, the home town of Professor Birch.

There the Trainers who had come with them, could set up their camps and stay safe… at least until Galactic came for Professor Birch…

There was a plus side, if Galactic came for Professor Birch while there were that many Trainers around, someone, hopefully, would be able to stop them…

"She's up a tree again."

Jack turned to look at the speaker and sighed when it was revealed to be one of the group that Will had started hanging around with during the build up to the now cancelled league, and had yet to rejoin the group.

"Which one?" Jack asked, looking around at the forest that surrounded their camp.

"That one." The boy pointed it out, "It's our turn to cook tonight, so don't spend too long in the tree."

"Alright, thank you." Jack nodded, heading for the forest's edge and the tree with his friend in.

"Lizzie?" He asked, clambering up into the tree, "You ok?"

"Yes… No…" She sighed, "I'm leaving." The girl ran a hand through her shoulder length, icy blue hair, sapphire eyes never leaving the forest floor.

"What?" Jack's brown eyes widened as he stared at the eleven year old.

"I'm leaving." She repeated, "There's a boat to Sinnoh leaving at seven o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Going to Sinnoh won't help." The Pokémon Coordinator, who was little more then a month older then his Trainer friend, sighed and settled in for a long discussion, and to try and talk her out of it.

"She's not dead, Jack." She told him firmly, noting the fact that his brown hair needed cutting again. "I have to find her."

"I know it's hard, but…"

"You've written my sister off too?" Sapphire eyes hardened as she glowered at her friend.

"No but…"

"I'm going and you can't stop me."

"What about taking this lot back to Littleroot?"

"You can take the group back to Littleroot without me. There are Trainers in this group far more powerful then me."

"Liz…" Jack sighed, "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of it, am I?"

"No." On this point, Lizzie was quite firm and she wasn't about to be dissuaded.

"Were you going to tell Will?" Jack asked, eyes flickering to the camp, where a large group of people were discussing something. At the edge of the group was their friend and travelling companion, messy brown hair obvious amongst those who bothered with their appearance each morning.

"Will only came with us last year, because he didn't want to be alone in town," Lizzie shook her head, watching the group interact, "He'd be quite happy to stay with his new friends, I think."

There was silence for a couple of moments and then Jack stretched, "If you're going to Sinnoh," He told Lizzie, "So am I."

"Jack, you can't…!"

"Well if I can't go, neither can you." He interrupted, refusing to let her walk into the viper's nest without him.

Lizzie snorted, amusement obvious as she smiled her first smile since they'd been sent away from Evergrande City, "Blackmail is not the way to a girl's heart, Jack."

"But it works." Jack replied with a shrug and a small smile afterwards.

"You'd really come with me?" Lizzie asked, sounding unsure, nervous even. She'd wanted to go alone, not drag her friends into danger with her.

"Well, I can't let you walk into the crazy without me." Jack sniggered, "You'd go hungry."

"Is that the only reason?" Lizzie asked, not believing it, but still feeling the need to ask.

"Of course not," Jack's scorn was so obvious that it could have been dancing around in a tutu with neon lights attached and it wouldn't have made much difference, "I've been expecting you to want to go since the news about your sister came through. If anything, you've lasted longer then I thought you would."

"You don't have to come. You know how dangerous it is in Sinnoh right now…" Lizzie trailed off at the look Jack was giving her.

"Which is why I have to come, Tide is powerful, but he needs backup." Jack referred to her Swampert, which was Lizzie's most powerful Pokémon, but had failed in a few crucial matches when left on its own, "Let me help."

"We can't spread it around. They'll try and stop us…" Lizzie sighed, referring to the group of older Trainers who had followed them in order to both protest the younger Trainers travelling and to get together to decide on their next move, since the League had pretty much folded.

"To be fair, I can't blame them. It is a pretty mental idea." Jack snorted, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"I can't just wait around, I have to go, I have to find her and if she is gone…" Lizzie's voice broke and she swallowed hard.

"I'll help in anyway I can," He promised, "But I really think you should speak to Will before you go. He'll be annoyed if we slip off without him."

"I don't think he'll come." Lizzie replied, watching as Will burst into laughter at something someone in the group he was with had said.

"You should at least give him the option." Lizzie sighed, acknowledging Jack's point, "How long have you been thinking about leaving the group?"

Lizzie hesitated for a moment, then bowed her head and mumbled, "The moment we arrived in Evergrande City."

"And you've lasted until now?" The Coordinator sounded impressed.

"I didn't get a chance to slip off." The Trainer glanced at him, "That was deliberate, wasn't it?"

"Not completely." Jack shook his head, wondering about sending out their Pokémon in readiness for tea. "We've been worried since the incident with those Galactic sympathisers."

"You sure you want to go?"

"I'm sure that if I don't go, you'll go by yourself and then you'll have no one to bail you out when you get in over your head."

"I don't…" Lizzie protested, and then sighed, "Okay, so maybe I do."

"Ready to come down for food yet?"

"Maybe…" She watched as tents were set up, campfires were lit, people and Pokémon settled in for the night, and the sun set on the campsite.

"Liz…"

"I'll be okay, once I know what happened…"

"Come and eat, we can speak to Will later and then we'll leave in the morning." Jack climbed down and then looked up at the girl who hadn't moved from her spot in the tree.

He sighed. Lizzie had always looked up to her older sister, the girl who had become the Sinnoh League's last Aspiring Champion, and the news of her disappearance and death had hit the young Trainer harder then anyone else.

He just hoped that Sinnoh could provide some closure and let the young Trainer move on.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Joey was not a happy Duellist.

First it had been the virtual gardens, then the virtual mansion, then the fake blimp, and now he was trapped in a Duel with a guy that had decided to play Judge, Jury and Executioner in a match where, for once in his life, all the luck was going against him.

It had never happened to him before, and with a deck as based on luck as his was, Johnson was having little trouble trouncing him.

Considering that he needed to win this match, not only to prevent his mind being trapped within the virtual world forever but to be able to find his little sister and help her escape, the lack of luck was quite successfully driving him up the wall.

So the last thing he needed was…

"Guys, look out…" He yelped as Yami and Tea rushed through the door, followed at a slightly more sedate pace by Bakura.

Since Bakura hadn't been downloaded into the virtual world, to his knowledge at least, he assumed that it was one of Noa's tricks.

"We know." Tea groaned, "Long story." She glowered at the two darks, who had been a nightmare the entire way here, as Bakura shut the door behind them and proceeded to lean on one of the benches. "Now can we have Jamie back?" She asked the Tomb Robber.

Bakura raised an eyebrow, "I'll think about it."

Joey would have asked more questions, but Johnson, in his guise as Judge Man bellowed "Order, order! Order in the court!" Glaring at the newcomers, who were interrupting his attempt at getting what he wanted, "This court is still in session, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Never held much interest in the law system." Bakura smirked at the Big Five member who didn't respond other then by drawing a card.

"If you pay attention you might learn something." Johnson said to the spirit, smirking at the cards in his hand, "I'm about to sentence Mr Wheeler to a life time sentence of exile in this virtual hell!"

Bakura wasn't particularly worried, it was no concern of his other then it would upset Jamie if Joey lost. The Pharaoh and Tea however, hovered by the rails nearest the front of the room as Joey attempted to turn the duel around with his Skull Dice card… which originally landed on a five and for some reason picked up speed again and stopped on a one.

Bakura's interest was caught, he just wondered if the Pharaoh or Wheeler had noticed.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Kaiba and Mokuba had gone from a virtual forest, to a virtual re-enactment of their life before Seto had taken over Kaiba Corp from his step father and were now currently walking along an, apparently never ending, virtual beach.

"I can't take this any more!" Mokuba complained loudly when he noticed that the sun, which was setting over the waters, hadn't moved for at least an hour, "I don't want to be in a virtual forest, on virtual beach or even in a virtual amusement park! I WANT OUT OF HERE!"

Seto turned to look at his little brother, trying to show none of the frustration and worry that was currently plaguing him. He couldn't afford to look weak with Noa watching their every footstep.

"Sorry Seto…"

"If you get annoyed, you're walking straight into Noa's hands." Seto replied, watching as his brother's shoulders sank and the child nodded, following his brother as they continued along the beach, having little else to do.

Voices from further up the beach caught Seto's attention, and he turned to see if anymore of Noa's virtual re-enactments was heading their way.

Nothing.

No people, but still there were voices…

Seto moved further up the beach, Mokuba following, the voices getting louder, and making Mokuba look around once he'd heard them too.

There was a television that somehow worked all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, with no electricity, and was showing Noa descending into an almost empty courtroom.

"What's he up to now?" Seto growled.

Mokuba just crowded in so he could hear it better.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Will leant back to watch the stars, sat a little ways away from the main camp with just his two travelling companions.

"So the Sinnoh trip, it's on?" He asked when the silence between them had been sufficiently awkward enough.

"You knew?" Lizzie yelped.

"Please, it's been coming for a while." Will snorted, smirking at the young Trainer who wanted nothing more out of life then to surpass her older sister, "I thought you'd get on the Sinnoh boat from Evergrande and leave us behind without saying a word."

Lizzie considered her friend with more then a little shock, "I didn't think you'd want to come…"

"I don't." Will replied, "It's a bloody stupid idea that will probably get us all killed, even if your sister's still alive, but there's nothing Jack or I could say that would stop you, and there's no way we'd let you go alone, so…"

Lizzie wasn't sure whether to be hurt or amused.

Jack considered the other male member of their group. Will wasn't aiming for a Championship in a Pokémon League like Lizzie, or trying to become a top coordinator like him, he seemed to want little more out of travelling, then to see new places and scout out new Pokémon in the area to take pictures of with his rather expensive camera or draw in one of his many sketch books, there was a name for it but Jack couldn't think of what it was.

"Besides, I mentioned that we might have to leave the group, and Terry," Will indicated the man in question, one of the older Trainers, "Said that he could show the others the way to Littleroot if the situation arose."

Lizzie smiled and shook her head, while Jack just rolled his eyes, wondering how Will had managed to predict their next move… again.

"I know your sister's been missing longer then this before, we were the ones who helped you to stay calm when she fell out of contact for six months last year, but you do realise that if she really was hit by Palkia's Spacial Rend like Cynthia told your mum, even if she's alive, she could be anywhere, right?"

"I know but Sinnoh was the last place she was seen alive, so that's where I'm heading." Lizzie nodded.

"Where **we're** heading." Jack reminded her, wishing Will wouldn't get Lizzie's hopes up.

"Sorry, sorry." Lizzie smiled, "Where we're heading."

"Don't worry Liz," Will fell back completely, lying on the ground and just breathing in the night air, "Jamie's one of the best Trainers around, I'm sure she's just fine."

"You think so?"

"This is Jamie we're talking about, the girl who saved a Suicune, chased Team Magma out of Littleroot Town, vanished for six months only to reappear with all fully evolved Pokémon and became an Aspiring Champion. There's no way a group like Team Galactic could take her down." Will laughed reassuringly.

Lizzie smiled, face lighting up in a way that it hadn't for far too long, "You forgot when she beat that Admin who had us held hostage in the lab with just her Starter Pokémon."

"Isn't that the Marshtomp that she gave you?"

"Uh huh. Tide was my sister's starter Pokémon, but she left him with me, just in case Team Magma came back and she couldn't get back in time to help, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Both Will and Jack smiled at the memory of getting to watch the match between the Team Magma admin that had scared them silly (and in their defence they had only been seven and a half years old), and the brave older sister who had risked her life to try to rescue them. "That was awesome."

"Jamie and her Marshtomp…" Lizzie's voice wavered at the memory of how she'd sworn on a shooting star the night that Jamie had returned to her travels that one day she would out do her sister and prove that Jamie could rely on Lizzie to save her if she was ever hurt or captured, just as Lizzie could rely on Jamie to rescue her.

A shooting star shot across the sky, far above their heads, making the three of them gasp and quickly make a wish.

"Tomorrow's the start of a long journey." Jack said finally, once they were done and had just sat there for a while, making no effort to move or say anything, "So I'm off to bed."

"I'll speak to Terry and check my pack, then I'll join you." Will nodded, still grinning at the look on the Team Magma admin's face when Jamie had defeated her.

"I think I'll stay up a little longer." Lizzie said quietly still staring at the sky. The two boys slipped off to set up camp and speak to who they needed to as Lizzie closed her eyes and led back on the grass, just listening to the sounds of the night.

Tomorrow they'd be on a boat to their biggest and most dangerous adventure yet…

Part of her was looking forward to it and the other part was screaming about just how stupid she was for dragging her friends into danger, and how she should have just taken the boat and gone without telling them.

She groaned, rolling onto her side, trying to ignore the tears trickling down her face.

_Jamie, I'll find you, I promise._

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"That's Noa!" Yugi gasped, in spirit form beside Yami. Jamie joined them, standing by Bakura's side in spirit form, as the virtual ruler of the world they were in appeared and he didn't seem too happy.

"Time out." He snapped, "Stop the Duel."

"But Master!" Johnson looked shocked, "Please, sir, I was about to defeat this fool and take over his body!"

"You don't deserve that prize." Noa's glower stunned the watchers, "Not after what you just pulled."

"Called it." Bakura smirked, "He's been cheating all along."

"And you didn't say anything?" Yami snapped at him.

"I thought you would have known."

"Silence!" Noa looked at them. They shut up. Noa turned to Joey. "The honourable Judge Man," And Noa said honourable like it was a swear word, "Is nothing but a frauds who has been cheating you from the very beginning. He's been using my virtual technology to tamper with your dice rolls."

"You cheat!" Joey snarled, glaring at Johnson who looked afraid now, instead of over confident, "How bout I tamper with your face, Mr so-called 'man of justice'?"

"Told you, the law has it's own rules." Bakura snorted.

"Not this time." Noa growled at the Tomb Robber who seemed completely unconcerned, before turning back to Johnson, "I brought you five into my virtual world with the understanding that under my Leadership you would defeat Seto Kaiba and his little friends, but if you cheat, I can't prove that I'm more deserving then he is."

Noa ranted for a while, about how he was the one better suited to run Kaiba Corp, how the company was supposed to be his, how he deserved to own it, to run it, to do whatever the hell he liked with it.

"And it's about time that I proved how much more suited to the job I am, to Gozabora Kaiba." Noa continued growling.

"Excuse me." Joey spoke up. "The defendant would like to speak."

"Sorry but this doesn't concern you." Noa snapped at him, "It's time for me to do something I should have done the day I met you…"

"Noa, please, don't!" Johnson yelped.

"Hello?" Joey tried again.

"What?" Noa snapped, irritation at being interrupted obvious.

"Look I'm willing to forgive Judge gruesome over there, as long as he agrees to Duel fair and square."

"_Noa was going to delete the fraud and Joey wants to continue the Duel, as long as it's kept fair?"_ Jamie sounded both impressed and irritated, _"He's as bad as me!" _Bakura tried not to be amused as Noa snorted, and warned Joey that the stakes were still on and Johnson that he'd be keeping a close eye on the match before disappearing.

He drew Pot of Greed, drawing two cards and grinning broadly, "I move my Deck Master to the center of the playing field and equip him with this, Burning Soul Sword!"

The Flame Swordsman that had been helping him through the entire duel took the field and changed his sword out for the equip card.

"You need to sacrifice a monster for that card to work!" Johnson protested. "You have no monsters on the field, so your card won't work!"

"It's not over; I have this, my Arduous Decision magic card." Joey showed it to Johnson.

"_What does that do?"_ Jamie sent to Bakura.

'_It's a big gamble,'_ Bakura replied down the link, _'A stupid move but probably the only one Wheeler has left.'_

"_Stupid?"_

'_It allows him to draw two cards from his deck, and then the fraud over there has to pick one, if it's a monster card it gets summoned, but if it's a magic or trap card Wheeler's turn ends and the game goes with it.'_

Joey drew and held out the cards at arm's length. "Your choice, Johnson, left, or right? The entire duel rests on this choice and with Noa watching you can't cheat any more. The game now rests with chance."

"This match was decided when you stepped into the courtroom." You could hear the smirk in Johnson's tone.

"Just pick a card." Joey sounded bored.

Bakura moved into a better position to see what was going on. Joey had a monster and a magic card, so it was all about who was the better bluffer, the guy who lived in the courtroom or the guy who lived off of luck.

"Let's do this." Joey sounded bored, though Yugi could see he was bluffing. "The more you put it off the harder it's gonna be."

"Alright, alright, I pick your left hand." Johnson pointed to it.

"Are you sure?" Joey's false confidence was certainly convincing enough for Johnson, who hesitated. "I mean really sure."

"You've asked the same question twice, your hesitation proves I've made the right choice."

"If you say so." Joey said carelessly.

"I've been the in courtroom for years, you can't get anything past me, this match is over, judgement in favour of me. Now show me the card in your left hand."

Joey smirked, an amused sound escaping his lips.

"No wait!" Johnson yelped.

"Yeah?" Joey asked, still amused.

"I've changed my mind."

"The right hand?" Joey asked.

Johnson nodded.

Joey revealed it.

Goblin Attack Force. An effect monster with 2300 attack and 0 defence.

"That's gotta hurt." Joey's smirk broadened and Jamie sensed amusement from the Tomb Robber who had seen exactly what was going on.

Joey summoned the card and sacrificed the goblins, raising the Flame Swordsman's attack from 1000, to 3600, sending it to destroy Johnson's Dragoness the Wicked Knight, sending Johnson's life points tumbling to zero.

"This can't be happening, I once convinced a jury that a man who was terrified of water, stole a boat! How can I be fooled by some kid? Noooooooooooooooooo!" Johnson shattered, just as any other Duel Monster would.

"Alright Joey!" Yugi and Tea cheered, giving the teenager a high five.

'_You want to take back over now?'_ Bakura asked Jamie, who had been watching the proceedings closely, causing the girl to jump.

"_Unless you want more time to stretch your legs…"_ Jamie teased, as Joey looked around.

"We have to find the others." Joey said.

"Yeah." Yugi nodded, "The other members of the Big Five might be duelling them right now."

"Duelling?" Joey wheeled around, pure anger showing in the way he looked at Yugi, "Who's duelling?"

Yugi backed up a step, looking apologetic. "They want to duel all of us, Joey, everyone who's trapped here. We are all in this."

"ALL OF US?" Joey shouted, grabbing Yugi by the collar, frightening his friend, though he knew that Joey was more angry at Noa and the Big Five then at him.

"Stop Joey!" Tea protested, though she did nothing to help Yugi escape Joey's grip.

"But that's not fair, Serenity's never duelled before!"

"We'll find her Joey." Yugi promised, trying to hide his fear from the others, "And we'll make sure she's ok. I promise."

"Let's get moving!" Joey shoved Yugi to one side, vaulted the railing and rushed out the door. When it didn't open to a frozen wasteland, Jamie took control back from Bakura and rushed after him, Yugi and Tea close behind.

"I'm coming Serenity…"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Wow, long chap, hope you enjoy, I know I enjoyed writing it ****:)**


	15. Fallen

"Serenity!"

Joey would have vaulted the railings, despite the long drop, if his sister hadn't been in the middle of a Duel.

"Joey?" Serenity wheeled around at Joey's desperate call. "Joey, is that really you?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Joey nodded, giving his sister a reassuring smile.

"Where's Tristan?" Tea called down, as Yugi tried to read the duel, realising that, if it wasn't for Perfect Machine King, Serenity and Duke would have the advantage, "Wasn't he with you?"

The way Duke's shoulders sank and Serenity teared up told Jamie what she needed to know, even as Duke confirmed it. "He's gone. Tristan fell."

"What?" Tea gasped.

"Tristan lost the duel." Duke replied.

"He was protecting me." Serenity sounded miserable.

Duke was irritated by Tristan's actions. Yes Nesbit had been focusing on Serenity, but she'd known the basics well enough to put up a decent defence so far. If Tristan had thought about what was going on, instead of being determined to take all the damage aimed at Serenity himself, there was a good chance that all three of them would still be in the game.

"But that means… oh no…" Tea sank to her knees, Yugi gripped the railing tightly and Joey scowled.

"Make room, I'm joining in." Joey said, preparing to vault the railings and jump down to the metal crates below.

"Negative." Nesbit rumbled, "Interference will not be allowed. The duel will continue."

Jamie watched Joey give his sister reassurance, recognising both the confidence he was trying to project to his sister, and the helpless feeling that was hidden underneath.

She knew how that felt, knowing that your little sister was in danger and being unable to do much about it.

A memory flashed past, of baiting the Admin in charge of the Magma grunts who had overrun her home town into a three on three Pokémon battle, knowing full well that she only had one Pokémon left to battle with, knowing that if her Marshtomp fainted, she would lose the battle and there would be nothing she could do, knowing that if she failed, her life and the lives of her sister and her sister's friends would be forfeit...

'_You have a sister?'_

Bakura's voice shocked her out of the fear filled memories of the battle, just in time to watch Serenity's Saint Joan defeat Perfect Machine King and win the duel.

"_Just one. My little sister, Lizzie. She's a Pokémon Trainer, like me."_ She sensed Bakura's amusement at the pride in her mental 'voice'. _"Been travelling for a year and a bit now."_

'_You never mentioned her.'_

"_You never mentioned your family either."_ Jamie replied, watching Joey hug his sister, unable to help the pang of jealousy that made her heart ache. _"It hurts to talk about her."_

Bakura understood that all too well. Even now, five thousand years down the line, he didn't like talking about his family.

Jamie reached the bottom step in time to hear Duke ask, "So what's the plan?"

"The enemy would have escaped into Tristan's body by now." She said, causing everyone to look at her, "But his mind will be in this virtual world somewhere."

"That's true." Yugi nodded, thinking. "We just have to find it."

"But how are we going to find him?" Duke demanded, "He could be anywhere, and Noa's not exactly going to make this easy!"

'_They're forgetting that without a body, Tristan won't be able to return to the human world.'_ Bakura reminded her, trying not to be too amused by the situation.

"You have a point." Jamie muttered, catching Yugi's attention.

"Bakura have something to say?" He asked, causing Serenity and Duke to stare at her, as if seeing the Ring hanging around her neck for the first time.

"Finding his mind's all well and good, but he has no body to return to, unless you plan on sharing with him."

"I'm not sharing." Duke shook his head violently.

"I do have one idea. We split into two groups." Jamie said, thinking carefully. "One looks for Tristan's mind, the other tries to hunt down the bad guy…"

"Nesbit." Duke interrupted.

"…Tries to hunt down Nesbit. See if he's still in the virtual world."

"We're not splitting up again." Joey growled.

"Then what's your plan?"

"We find Tristan's mind, then we hunt down Noa and shake him upside down until he lets us out of here."

"That doesn't solve the issue of Tristan not having a body." She reminded him.

"Splitting up isn't a good idea." Jamie scowled as she realised who was out. The Pharaoh looked thoughtful as he continued. "But there may be another way."

"Do tell, Pharaoh." Joey gave her a sharp look when her tone sounded slightly hostile, noting that her eyes were darker, and there were lighter streaks in her hair. Had Bakura spoken through her for a moment?

"We challenge Noa. Nesbit didn't win the duel, so he should have freed Tristan. Considering his addiction to sticking to the rules, there's a chance that, if we beat Noa, he'll let us all go. Tristan included."

"Might work." Jamie acknowledged.

"Yugi no!" Tea protested. "If you challenge Noa, he'll try and steal your body!"

"He'll only take it if I lose." Yami reminded her.

"That's not strictly true." Jamie shook her head, wanting to warn them for Yugi's sake, rather then Yami's, "I've fought him once already. He tried to steal my body after I won. He only failed because of…" She indicated the Millennium Ring.

"So much for sticking to the rules." Joey snorted.

"So what? We just let them get away with it?" Duke demanded.

"No." Yugi was out again and he was thinking. "Let's find Tristan's mind, then we'll deal with Noa."

"What about Nesbit?"

'_The problem would be solved if he ran into Marik.'_

Jamie snorted, acknowledging Bakura's point. "We've beat Noa once. Let us try."

"I dunno…" Joey looked wary for a moment and Jamie felt insulted until she realised that he was worried about Bakura pulling something.

"Fine…" Jamie scowled. "Noa I know you're watching, you Muk! I want a word!" She bellowed. "You're breaking your word. You said you'd free me when I found my friends."

Noa, scowling at her accusation of duplicity, appeared on the balcony they had arrived at. "You're missing one." He pointed out.

"Where's Tristan?" She demanded. "Nesbit had no right to take control of his body."

"Oh don't you worry." Noa smirked, "I haven't freed Nesbit yet, he's still in here. He didn't earn the right to take that body."

"So both Nesbit and Tristan are still in the virtual world?"

"That's correct." Noa nodded. "Have fun looking." He vanished.

"You were going to leave us behind?" Joey wheeled on her.

"No. Actually I got the information we needed without anyone being left on the outside with Marik." Jamie snorted back at him. "Nesbit's still in this virtual world, which means there's a chance we can force him to give up his claim on Tristan."

"So all we have to do is find Tristan and Nesbit and we're set." Duke nodded.

"Well played." Yugi smiled at her.

"Thanks Yugi." Jamie nodded back, "Shall we?" She gestured towards a door on the right hand side.

"Let's go."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**1 Month 2 Weeks Ago – Kanto Region, New Forest**

They were a group of ten to fifteen Trainers of varying ages, ranging from Judy, Rex and Raven, who were the oldest at 17, to Gillian, the youngest at 10, who had only left on her journey a few days before Viridian had given itself up to the invaders from Team Galactic and forced out any League sympathisers.

They'd been travelling for a couple of weeks now, heading north, having passed through Pewter City, and were now just north of Mt Moon, hoping to settle in Brunswick Village, which was full of history, but didn't have anything like a Gym or a Pokémon Lab to attract the bad guys.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" A child's scream caused everyone in the small, temporary camp to freeze.

"Rex, Raven!" Judy demanded, already on her feet and moving towards the sound when the two boys shook off the shock and got to their feet.

She darted through the trees, sending out her Shedinja, who moved much faster then she could, the Bug/Ghost type unhampered by the need to go around trees, and by the time she'd caught up, it was floating between an injured girl, who was clutching a Pokémon Egg close to her chest and couldn't be more then six or seven, and a Mightyena obviously belonging to the huge thug that glowered at her on her arrival.

"Stay out of this. That girl is property of Team Cipher." He snarled at her.

"No I'm not!" The pink haired girl protested shakily, "I don't belong to anyone!"

Judy moved behind her Shedinja as the two boys burst into the area, going to the girl's side as Rex's Vulpix and Raven's Raichu joined her Shed Pokémon.

"Who's the creep?" Rex asked confidently, deliberately smirked, antagonising the thug into focusing on him rather then the girls, not that Judy wasn't a good Trainer, but he'd rather she dealt with the girl, and he dealt with the bad guy. He was bad at dealing with children under ten.

"I'm Ruben, of Team Snagum." The thug sounded all too happy about that, "Get out of my way."

"No." Raven replied, glowering. He'd heard of Team Snagum, even before the League had let Galactic capture Palkia. He'd fought alongside his good friend, Iason, in the last civil war against Team Cipher in their home lands of Orre, and where there was Cipher, there was often Snagum.

"I'm Judy Frost, of Shamuti Island. I'm a League Trainer." She smiled softly at the girl, "I won't let him lay a hand on you." She offered the girl a hand up.

The girl hesitated, but then took her hand. Judy felt a presence touch her mind, like that of Slowking's or Jynx's when they spoke mind to mind with her, then it was gone. The girl's pensive look turned to a real smile, "I'm Danielle Rouge, of Brunswick Village…" She looked at the floor, "Or… I was… I have no where now…"

Ruben's smirk irked Rex who demanded, "What?"

"The villagers weren't happy when I came looking for the Mew that lives in this forest." Ruben snorted, "And refused to hand over the girl who plays with the creature. So I smoked the girl out."

"Smoked…" Judy's head shot up and she gave him a disbelieving look. Surely he didn't mean…

"He burnt it to the ground!" Danielle squeaked.

"You burnt…" Rex growled, his Vulpix spitting fire.

"You're leaving. Now." Raven snarled, Raichu letting off sparks.

"This is no business of yours, League Trainers. Let me take the girl or you'll have Snagum, Cipher and Galactic on your tail."

Judy didn't hesitate, pulling the girl carefully to her feet and wheeling to face him. "We're League Trainers, we aren't going to surrender anyone to captivity."

"Then you're dooming yourselves. The three of you will be chased from here to Fiore and back if that's what it takes to get that Psychic in captivity." Ruben growled, sending out a Linoone to join his Mightyena.

"I won't surrender Mew." Danielle told Judy.

"We're not giving you up either." She reassured the girl, recalling her Shedinja and sending out her Delibird.

""Mightyena, Linoone, attack!"

"Vulpix Will-o-Wisp!"

"Raichu Jolt!"

Vulpix's Will-o-Wisp made Ruben's Pokémon back off and Jolt stunned his Linoone into retreating into its Pokeball.

Ruben growled. He hadn't had a proper Pokémon battle since Kayla had escaped from the labs in Orre and disappeared through a space rift when he'd finally caught up with the Hoenn League Champion at Eterna City and that had been three weeks ago and these brats weren't going to make his job easy.

"Flamethrower!" Rex ordered, his Vulpix responding rapidly.

"Crunch!" Ruben snapped back, his Mightyena trying to get his teeth into Vulpix.

"Ice Beam!" Judy told Delibird, who hit the black canine with a beam of ice, freezing it rock solid.

Ruben recalled his Bite Pokémon and glowered at them. "I'll be back! With greater numbers! That Psychic will be under our control and you won't stop us!" He snarled and retreated.

Danielle looked at them as Raven bolted after him and Rex swore vividly, kicking a tree, before swearing again and hopping around.

Judy just facepalmed.

"Judy," Raven commented when he returned to the group of three and they started heading back to the younger Trainers, "What are we going to do about…"

"What's wrong?" Danielle asked.

"We were heading for Brunswick village with a bunch of Trainers, hoping to have somewhere we could rest but…"

"Brunswick's gone…" Danielle nodded sadly, thinking, "But I do know somewhere we can hide… if you're willing to have me in your group…"

"I told you I wouldn't let him get you." Judy smiled, "Where's this place?"

Danielle looked around, convincing herself that there was no one but them around and then turned back to Judy. "Have you ever heard of the Tree of World's Beginning?"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Tristan, what are you doing?" Kaiba demanded as he defended himself against a rather angry Tristan who had attacked for no apparent reason.

"There he is!" Kaiba made the mistake of looking away and nearly had his head taken off, as Yugi and the others arrived. Joey intercepted the attack, much to Kaiba's surprise, but Tristan escaped and backed right off.

"Why don't you kids run along?" Nesbit, who was wearing Tristan's virtual body and highly annoyed that Noa had yet to allow him to leave this virtual hell, had decided to go after Seto and Mokuba.

"Release Tristan's body!" Yugi demanded.

"I don't think so. I won this body fair and square." He attacked Kaiba again, and Joey got in the way, blocking the metal pole he'd been swinging with his Duel Disk which was left with a huge dent in it.

Seto, in the meantime, had picked up a metal bar and brandished it like a Kendo stick at Nesbit, who laughed and disarmed him far too easily.

"Nice try, Kaiba, but not good enough!" Nesbit crowed, attacking again. Seto backed off quickly, but not quickly enough and only escaped injury because a robotic monkey leapt on him.

"That's enough!" Joey complained and booted Nesbit hard, sending him crashing through a door.

Jamie darted to the door, trying to see into the dark warehouse to find out what he was up to.

"Joey, that's still…" The sounds of a motorcycle made Tea pause midrant.

Jamie yelped as Nesbit shot past her, narrowly avoiding clipping her with the handlebars, shooting past Joey and Seto and grabbing Mokuba, escaping down a tunnel with him.

"Mokuba!" Jamie yelped, already chasing the bike, hand going to her waist automatically, stopping as she realised she couldn't catch up without her Pokemon, only for Seto to shoot past on a second motorcycle.

She growled, wheeling on the others. "Nesbit's getting away!" She complained.

"If Kaiba's chasing Nesbit, then we should focus on finding Tristan's mind." Yugi looked worried.

The robot monkey that had saved Kaiba chirped, causing Yugi and the others to turn to look at it, as Jamie scouted the area for vehicles, since she knew Joey could drive.

"_This is insane."_ She complained to Bakura as she searched, finding a pick up truck, which she searched to try and see if it had keys.

'_I have to admit that the Pharaoh does get himself into interesting situations.'_ Bakura snorted back as she found the keys in the glove compartment.

"_Interesting is one word for it."_ She responded in turn, starting the truck up in order to check the gas and frowning as she saw it had a full tank of petrol. _"And I think Noa put this here deliberately."_

"Jamie!" Joey's worried call made Jamie poke her head around the corner. "There you are." He grinned at her, "You had us worried."

"I'm fine." Jamie waved him off, with a small smile. It was nice to have people who worried about her. "Look what I found."

"What?" Joey asked curiously, turning the corner and chuckling, "I'm driving!" He got into the driver's seat without waiting for input.

Duke grumbled and clambered into the back, where he wouldn't be tempted to make comments about Joey's driving, and gave the others a hand up.

"Let's see…" Joey muttered, stalling the vehicle once, and then pulling away, heading down the tunnel Kaiba and Nesbit had gone down at a fast pace, in an attempt to catch up.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**1 Month Ago – Kanto Region, Cameron, Tree of World's Beginning **

"Where's… oh…"

Judy paused in the doorway to watch Danielle play with the Mew who lived in the Tree of Beginnings and a second Mew that Judy hadn't seen before, one whose fur was a slightly darker pink.

"Mew?" The second Mew asked Danielle, waving at Judy.

"Huh?" Danielle wheeled around defensively, then relaxed as she saw who was hovering. "Hi Judy."

Judy edged into the room. It had been described as the Heart of the Tree and it had been avoided by the group so far, as somewhere special to Mew.

The room was inside the great stone trunk, but the crystals here were much larger then those which rested in odd places along the corridors and a beam of green energy reached up to the ceiling and continued on through to the upper branches.

Judy paused by the largest of the great Crystals, staring as she realised there was actually someone entombed in it.

"That's Sir Aaron." Danielle murmured, "Mew told me he was an Aura Guardian who gave his life to save Cameron from destruction during the Great War between Kanto and Johto."

"That was hundreds of years ago." Judy was shocked, "Mew was around then?"

"No, this is a different Mew." Danielle shook her head, as the darker pink Mew settled on her shoulder, "But all Mew know of those who have been picked as an ally by a Mew."

"Then why is Aaron…?"

Danielle looked at the lighter pink Mew, who darted forward and touched her hand, its eyes glowing slightly.

"When he gave his Aura to save Cameron and the Tree, the Crystal preserved him. Mew says that he'll be free once Lucario comes."

Judy nodded, feeling like she wanted to back out of the room.

"What was it you wanted?" Danielle asked after a minute or two of silence, poking the teenager in the side and making her jump.

"Huh? Oh. Could you and Mew come give us a hand please?" Judy always felt a bit daft, coming to someone ten years her junior for help, but Danielle was the only one who Mew would get the Regis that protected this tree to back down for. "Regice won't let us down to the lake, Regirock is blocking the exit to the leafless branches and Registeel is blocking off the sleeping area. We thought it might be because they don't like it when we get close to Mew, but you're here… with two Mew, not down there so please?"

Danielle sighed, "Judy this is the Mew from New Forest." She indicated the Mew on her shoulder, "My friend. The one that Snagum Grunt was chasing me over. What do you mean Registeel is blocking off the sleeping area? We deliberately picked somewhere that wouldn't matter to set up in."

"I know this, you know this, Registeel seems to disagree."

"Where's the leafless branches?" Danielle looked confused.

"Sorry, it's what the others have taken to calling those branches in that area the wind blows really hard through and no plants grow."

"Oh I know, where the Trainers with flying Pokémon exercise their Pokémon, or take off if they're going for food." Danielle nodded her understanding, "And you said Regice is blocking the main exit?"

"Uh huh, we figure someone tried to climb the tree, and, of course, since the Regis don't like it when we climb the tree even with Mew's permission, they got funny and decided no one was going anywhere."

Danielle ran a hand through her hair. It had been hard enough to get the Regis to behave in the first place. Even with Mew on her side, they hadn't wanted to let any human into the Tree and the Tree's own immune system had caused problems for the first few minutes, until Danielle and her partner had 'spoken' to the Mew that lived here.

"Did the guards see anyone?" She asked, picking up her Pokémon Egg, which couldn't be long from hatching now, and heading for the closest problem, Registeel, and trying to work out why the Regis were playing up.

Normally if they were blocking off an area it was because Mew wanted some alone time, not that that happened very often, so why today?

"No but the fog's really bad around the base of the tree and the only person whose Pokémon knows Defog went for supplies and won't be back for another couple of hours."

Danielle bit her lower lip and nodded, "Might be why. The Tree is more vulnerable when we can't see the bottom of it. I know there's that rock wall which surrounds the lake and normally stops the fog covering that bit, but if we can't get to the lake…"

Registeel hadn't moved an inch when the pair of them finally reached the sleeping area.

"Danielle, brilliant." Rex grinned as the pair of them arrived, "Could you get Registeel to move, please?"

Danielle looked amused as she and her pair of Mew turned to Registeel. The Pokémon Trainers who escorted her here were generally nice people, there were a couple who she could have done without, but generally they were helpful and friendly.

But it never failed to amuse her that they considered her the authority in everything to do with the legendary Pokémon who lived in this tree, even though the leaders of the group, Judy, Rex and Raven, were all ten years older then her, at 18.

It wasn't even like she did more then ask Mew to get the Regis to move.

Judy, Rex and Danielle watched in amusement as Mew went off on one at Registeel, who rumbled back at it for a while, before trudging off. If a golem like thing could be said to be sullen, Registeel was defiantly that.

"Thanks." Rex darted inside and the two girls headed down to the next problem.

The Tree's Mew seemed warier now though and after a brief discussion with New Forest's Mew, darted ahead of them.

"Something wrong?" Judy asked Danielle, who looked a little confused.

"Something, but I didn't catch what." She frowned. "I'm not sure if it was something about someone getting out or someone getting in."

"Mew." New Forest's Mew patted Danielle's shoulder reassuringly.

"You think we might be under attack?"

"That grunt did say he'd be back."

Judy sighed. One grunt would be easy to take down. They hadn't just been hiding over the week and a half that they'd been here. They had been training; against each other, against the Ancient Pokémon who lived at the base of the Tree, who had decided to join in once or twice.

Their numbers had grown too. Six or seven Trainers who had returned to their home town of Cameron and a group of three who had flown or rode north when Cerulean City had come under attack and, having hit the northern coast, come eastwards and run into the two flyers they had sent out to buy food, when they had stopped in Pewter City.

The tree was huge, but there were moments when she could appreciate why the Regis were objecting to people living in the Tree. They did appear to be multiplying.

Danielle shrugged when Judy didn't respond quickly, "Or it could be another messenger from the Palace. Lady Eileen has been rather good to us."

"Probably because we helped defend the castle from Team Rocket last week."

Danielle snorted, but didn't respond to that, still heading down to Regirock. Playing with the two Mew was fun, but she often got bored of staying within the interior of the great stone Tree, and she envied the Trainers, who were able to leave whenever they needed to.

The Tree's Mew was already there, talking to Regirock, who was, most decidedly, not moving from his spot.

"Mew?" Danielle asked the psychic cat Pokémon, who turned and looked at her for a moment, then darted away, leaving Regirock in the doorway to rumble discontentedly at them.

"Mew, can you find out what's wrong please?" Danielle petted the Mew on her shoulder's head and it nodded and chased after the other Mew.

"Danielle, would you please return to the Heart of the Tree?" Judy asked calmly, though her mind was already going over possible reasons for Mew to be this worried.

"Judy!" Miranda, one of the younger Trainers who currently lived here, panted, having run through the tree looking for her, "Messenger from Cameron… took them around the back way… at the meeting place…"

"Thanks Miranda." Judy nodded, leaving down the tunnel that had the shortest route to the meeting place, one of the caves deep within the tree, lit by glowing crystals and almost as defensible as the Heart.

Danielle followed, wanting to know what the Queen wanted to say to them, and was shocked to see the messenger's panicked state.

Normally when the messenger got here, they were welcomed and offered drinks and food. This time everyone was prepping for battle.

"Miss Frost." The Messenger nodded quickly, not out of disrespect but out of a need to get his message out quickly. "Lady Eileen sent me to warn you. Cameron Palace is under attack."

"From who?" Judy demanded, as she gestured to Rex and Raven to start organising teams.

"Team Galactic."

Everyone froze.

"Then they have come this far north?" Judy asked, biting her lower lip, this explained the problem with the Regis...

"I'm afraid so." The messenger nodded. "Lady Eileen asks that you don't help the palace. She will negotiate with them."

"They'll want everything the palace has. Rare Pokémon, priceless treasures…"

"Cameron Palace will survive this attack, just as they have others. Lady Eileen asks that you do not come to the palace until a message is sent saying that it is safe to do so. She apologises for this but…"

"I understand." Judy waved the messenger off. "We'll get supplies further afield for a while. Tell Lady Eileen that we will stay away, but if she needs any help, send a messenger and we'll be there as quickly as possible."

"Thank you." The messenger seemed relieved, as if he hadn't believed the Trainers would be reasonable, making Judy wonder what rumours were going around about League Trainers.

The messenger's eyes grew wide as the two Mew floated through the door and attached themselves to Danielle, pretending to whisper in her ear, their eyes glowing with a light they seemed to gain when 'talking' to the girl.

"Would you like a lift down?" Judy asked, knocking on the 'table' which consisted of a rather large stone plinth, to catch the messenger's attention.

"Yes, please." He nodded, watching for a little longer until Julian, one of the pair of Trainers with a team based on Flying types, escorted him out.

"We'd be highly applicative if you could avoid talking about the Mew in front of anyone who might gain an interest in capturing them." Julian said as they reached one of the upper, open branches, on the opposite side of the Tree to the leafless branches and sent out his Charizard.

"I will." The messenger nodded. "Could you drop me off at the bottom of the canyon? The fog's thick enough that no one will see you."

"No problem." Julian nodded, happy to get out for a while, giving the messenger, who couldn't have been very old, maybe old enough to leave if he'd wanted to become a Trainer, but no older, a hand up, as Charizard waited patiently.

"Okay Charizard, let's make this quick." Julian patted his Pokémon's neck.

Charizard leapt off of the stone branch and dove straight down, straightening out too late for his poor Trainer, who by this point had been deafened by the messenger's terrified scream.

He rubbed his ears and grimaced over his shoulder at the guy, who looked half apologetic and half like he was going to hurl. "Sorry."

"It's alright, I tend to forget that there aren't that many people who are used to Charizard's stunts." Julian chuckled, sending Charizard down into the fog, slowly, to try to find somewhere to land.

Unfortunately they were so intent on watching where they were going, that they missed the sound of the incoming Ice Beam until it was too late to dodge.

Charizard tried his best, managing to move enough for the attack to only strike a wing, but when the wing froze, he was unable to fly and the three of them crash landed.

Julian was on his feet in an instant, recalling his Charizard for its own protection and sending out his Pidgeot. "Go." He growled at the messenger, who nodded and ran for it. "Come out here and fight me with honour." Julian growled into the fog.

A laugh echoed around him, seeming to come from all directions at once. "I don't think so." The voice replied, "Surrender now and we'll let you release your Pokémon."

"I don't believe you." Julian shouted back, grimacing as the only reply he got was an Ice Beam which only narrowly missed his foot.

"It's either that or we do this the hard way." The voice replied, Julian scowled, wondering how the thug's attacks were so accurate. A Pokémon like a Glaceon perhaps, with heat sensitive eyes… "Where are the resistance hiding?"

"We're not Resistance." Julian protested.

"If you stand against Galactic, you're resistance, now where are the others."

"Like I'd tell you." He let out a startled cry as an Ice Beam struck his foot, freezing the bottom part of his leg, encasing it in a covering of ice that clung to the floor.

"Where are the resistance?" The voice repeated.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Noa was unsure whether he was happy with the latest turn of events or not.

He'd been trying to work out what part of the code for Yugi and Jamie's mental data allowed two others to piggyback into his server, and if he could manipulate it, when he'd found out Nesbit had kidnapped Mokuba.

This wasn't acceptable.

Not only was Nesbit running around in a body that didn't belong to him, but kidnapping Mokuba was not part of the plan, even if it had lured Kaiba directly to Lector.

Now he had Mokuba in his grasp, and even as he weaved lies about his brother to the youngest Kaiba brother, he was manipulating Mokuba's mental data, making him more susceptible to suggestion, more believing, wreaking the trust in Seto…

And it was good practise.

Working on a mind that only had data for one person, allowed him to compare it against one with two, and that, in turn helped him with the problem of three minds in one body or avatar.

By the time Seto had finished his match, with the, oh so predictable, outcome of Lector exploding into tiny pieces, and Noa had finished the set up with Mokuba, finishing up with a Seto recreated completely from data, who denied ever wanting to see Mokuba again, breaking Mokuba just enough that the new data took a hold, putting Mokuba under his command, he had a program complied and ready to execute the moment the conditions were right.

There was a moment of guilt, when Mokuba repeated his lie about him being the only one he could trust, but it was washed away quickly, by the thrill of success.

He taunted Kaiba, luring him into following the path Noa had put before him, and was amused when Yugi and Tea followed him.

With the manipulation of just two strings of code, the party was split up again, Seto was alone, Yugi and Tea were minutes behind him, and Joey, Jamie, Serenity, Duke and the monkey formally known as Tristan, were still on the bridge.

No matter how complicated the situation was getting, Noa was Gozabora Kaiba's real son and he would prove himself better then Seto.

With the manipulation of another, Seto was falling, coming to him, falling straight into Noa's trap.

And Mokuba was the perfect bait.

"Thanks for dropping in Seto."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"I don't like this, I don't like this at all." Jamie muttered angrily as she paced the place where the tunnel had disappeared, taking Seto, Tea and Yugi with it.

"So what? Are we expected to just wait here for them to get back?" Duke demanded, frustrated.

"Uh guys?" Jamie looked over her shoulder to where the robot monkey supposedly hosting Tristan's mind, was panicking, "You might want to look at this."

She trudged over cautiously, still not trusting the monkey one hundred percent, though it acted and sounded like Tristan, or at least it did now that the switch had been flipped, but if there actually was something down there…

Something shot out of the water, causing her to back up.

"Four of the big five!" Joey yelped. "We beat you fair and square."

"But we still have some unfinished business." Gansley sounded far too amused.

'_Jamie!'_ Bakura snarled, having already worked out what was about to happen.

"_I know, I know!"_ Jamie replied, realising what Bakura was on about second before Gansley leapt forward to seize a body. _"'Kura!"_ Jamie let out a frightened squeak.

They swapped, Bakura reaching for the Duel Disk which seemed permanently attached to which ever 'user' was currently using the account, and summoning two monsters, both foxes, who joined Joey's beasts in the sky.

They leapt into the truck as the humans posing as Duel Monsters got into battle with the monsters, Joey, thankfully not saying anything as Bakura clambered in behind Duke, keeping the Big Five members at bay as Joey got the engine started.

"Wheeler!" Bakura snarled, "What's taking so long?"

"If you can do any better…" Joey started growling, only to be cut off when the engine finally kicked in.

"Go!" Bakura kicked the van and Joey put his foot down, sending the two in the back toppling over.

Pushing himself upright, Bakura snarled something rather rude about Joey and his inability to do anything right, then reached for another card, only to find that his deck now consisted of three cards and none of them were monsters.

'_That damn maze!'_ Bakura snarled, cursing Noa and whoever had spawned Noa and everyone ever related to Noa ever.

Duke had 'helpfully' decided to stand up rather then stay knelt, and as such couldn't do anything useful as he had to hold on tight to the rails in order to avoid falling out of the truck as they reached the end of the bridge and headed into the mountains.

"They're gaining on us!" Joey yelped.

"Then drive faster!" Bakura snapped back.

"It won't go any faster!" Joey snarled back.

Judge Man got ahead of them, then Nightmare Penguin and while Joey was dodging those, Jinzo fired on the truck, which had already been straining from taking the turns too sharply at too high a speed, and when hit rolled over, leaving Bakura and Duke in the dust and Joey and Serenity dazed and confused in the truck's cabin.

Joey pulled himself out first, helping Serenity up, "Duke? Bakura?"

"I'm ok." Duke murmured as Bakura gave Joey an amused glance. Since when had Joey had that much concern for him?

Jamie appeared at his side and nudged, _"Let me take over."_

'_It's not safe.'_

"_We're caught."_ Jamie's tone was… accepting, _"Hopefully the Ring will protect us, like it did before."_

'_Are you sure?'_

"_No more then I have been since Battle City started."_

Bakura snorted and let her switch with him, just in time for her to be grabbed by her collar and dumped over by the truck, with slightly more dignity then Duke who was simply flung at it by Judge Man.

"Four bodies, one each." Crump sounded amused.

"Not happening." Jamie shook her head, getting to her feet, "You haven't won our bodies, your boss is going to be annoyed, to put it mildly, if you seize ours." She smirked.

Duke wondered if this was more of her acting, like when she'd threatened the goons yesterday, while Joey wondered what the point of Bakura switching with Jamie was if he was going to talk through her anyway.

"We'll have escaped long before Noa finds out!" Crump leapt at her only to be knocked back by a bright light.

Noa stood between the Duel Monsters and the humans. "Want to bet?" He demanded.

"Noa!" Crump backed away quickly.

"I gave you all the chance to win your freedom and you failed. Now you'll pay the price."

Joey and Serenity ducked back into the cabin and Duke seized a hold of the railings he'd been clinging to with one hand, while grabbing Jamie's and pulling her in until she could grab a hold herself, with the other as a tornado swept away the Duel Monsters.

"Gentlemen," Noa continued as the tornado vanished, "You're dismissed. No one breaks my rules and gets away with it!" He, however, didn't vanish with the Duel Monsters, instead turning to look at those assembled.

"They're not the only ones breaking rules here." He looked at Jamie. "Three against on one isn't within the rules."

"There is no rule against being possessed within the game of Duel Monsters either, Noa." Jamie scowled back, "And there are only two of us in here." She tapped her head.

"Still I believe a re-match is in order." Noa replied, snorting his disbelief at her attempt at duplicity. He knew there were three of them in there, he had the data proving it, "On your own, without the help of the others within you."

"Any time, any place, Noa." Jamie nodded, "But this time, when I win, you're going to release everyone you've trapped in this virtual hell, got it?"

"Agreed. Once I've dealt with the Big Five, I'll return and you'd better be ready."

"I will be."

Noa vanished.

"Are you crazy?" Joey demanded, wheeling on her instantly.

"No." Jamie snorted, midnight blue eyes glinting, a smirk gracing her features. "I took Noa down easily last time. I'm not worried now."

"Yeah, when you had Bakura in your head! You heard him, you won't be allowed to ask for help this time!"

"So what? I need someone in my head guiding me?" Jamie glowered at Joey, "I'll do perfectly fine without him, thank you very much."

"Joey… Yugi's possessed too, isn't he?" Duke asked hesitantly.

"Yes…" Joey admitted slowly. "Oh… oh no…"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Present – Kanto Region, Cameron, Tree of World's Beginning.**

They had defended the Tree of World's Beginning for just under a month now but it was over.

A few hours ago the Tree of Beginning had come under a renewed attack from both Team Cypher and Team Galactic, still high on their victory at the Indigo Plateau, the home place of the Pokémon League, which was now little more then rubble and ashes, and while the Trainers, the Tree and it's guardians had fought back, there was little left that they could do.

The Tree of Beginnings was dying.

It's immune system was destroyed, the gems that had grown here ripped out, the Regis captured by Cypher to add to their collection of Shadow Legendary Pokémon, to go with Lugia, Suicune, Raikou and Entai as well as allow them to awaken Regigigas, the Pokémon who had apparently towed the continents when the world had been formed, the ancient Pokémon who had lived at the base of the tree fled or captured…

The Mew that had invited them into their home was dying alongside the tree...

They had been pushed back to the Heart of the Tree, where the last of the crystals stood, encasing the Aura Guardian, Sir Aaron, who had died hundreds of years ago, trying to make their final stand, but even if they repelled Galactic now, the tree would die because there was no Aura Guardian among them to give their aura to save it.

Even Danielle, who had Mew in her arms, the little pink cat too weak to float any more, and had called on the Mew of New Forest to come and help, was unable to do anything to save the tree.

"It's all over." The grunts who were facing them smirked, "Surrender now and we might consider letting you go."

"Liar!" Danielle snapped, making Raven look over his shoulder at her for just a moment.

Her eyes glowing pink as she glowered at the grunts, the Mew from New Forest teleporting to her side and looking at her quickly before sending the Grunts sprawling.

"Mew, mewewew." It demanded of the others, taking Danielle's hand, dragging her away from the crystals and the other Trainers.

Danielle's eyes widened as Mew started glowing, "Run!" She told the others, panic clear, "Galactic are going to Rend the tree!"

"What?" The youngest of the Trainers yelped.

"Run!" Danielle begged them and then she was gone, teleported away.

The Trainers fled, heading down and out, escaping out onto the branches and giving those without flying Pokémon lifts out of there.

Judy, who had been captured with a group of four, when they'd tried to free the Regis, watched in horror as Danielle appeared out of nowhere, one Mew in her arms, another by her side, teleporting directly into the group of several New Species Pokémon that had arrived just moments ago, teleporting in from different forests and lakes, only to be caught up in the Spacial Rend that Palkia tore in reality, which sucked up Danielle, the collection of Mew, the Tree and every single Pokémon or Trainer who hadn't managed to escape.

"NO!" Judy bellowed, trying to pull out of the arms of her captors, scared for all those still in the tree, succeeding but unable to do anything to save her friends.

"Was that really necessary?" Evice complained at Saturn, "You just sent six Mew through the Rend to the Otherworld. Do you have any idea how rare those things are? If I'd known so many Mew lived here, I'd have had you bring one in!"

"We had no idea there was anything more of value in that tree. As far as we were aware there was nothing left worth saving."

"An understandable mistake, resistance members are a dozen a poke-dollar." Evice shrugged, "The dirt on my shoes is worth more then…" He cut off when Judy snapped, going to attack him, only to be knocked down by Mars, a fellow commander.

She glowered at him from her place on the floor.

Mars, the second youngest of the Galactic Admins smirked at her. "If you don't mind, Charon's been riding me for weeks about getting a hold of a couple of Trainers who'd been exposed to Aura and that Tree was soaked in the stuff…"

"Go ahead. We have no use for them." Evice snorted, "Unless one of them turns out PKNE positive."

"Give the PKNEs to you, so they can escape like that fire girl?" Mars snorted.

"We have an agreement." Evice glowered.

"Indeed we do." Saturn scowled at Mars, who backed down only because Palkia was under his command, "We'll test them but I doubt there are any PKNEs among this lot. It was only a small group."

"Be careful with that!" Evice's attention was drawn away by a loud crash as the cage containing an unconscious Aerodactyl was knocked over. "Excuse me…" He stalked off.

"How much longer do we have to put up with them?" Mars growled, as she gestured to two Galactic Grunts, who dragged Judy to her feet and chucked her in with the other, captured Trainers.

"Not long now. We just need Dialga."

"Shouldn't Mercury have recovered it by now?"

"She should but…" Saturn's tone revealed his distaste for his colleague.

"You don't think she's up to the task?" Mars asked, intrigued, having never heard Saturn mention anything about the other admins before.

"I think someone with a little more experience and a lot longer fuse should be running the Otherworld Team." He scowled.

"It's not like there's any real resistance. There aren't any Trainers in the Otherworld."

"Only the ones we've sent there and the few who have spent far too much time with Francis." Saturn replied, pausing in the conversation to direct the Grunts to their assigned tasks.

"Francis? She's still a problem?" Mars was surprised. She knew Trainers could be difficult but… "How is she…?"

"At this point, her interference is an example of how inept Mercury is." Saturn scowled, "Any other admin would have dealt with her by now."

Mars paused, thought for a moment, then smirked. "How dangerous are Francis and her Trainers?"

"If they don't get their hands on Dialga, there's no problem."

"And if they do?"

"There's several ways it could go."

"Send me; I'll get the job done." Mars told him, without any hint of doubt in her mind. "By the time I'm finished, Francis and her group won't be a problem."

"How many Grunts will you need?" At this point, Saturn was willing to send her, if only to stop Mercury whining about having to focus on searching for the Master Ball rather then invading the Domino Day Care and seizing back their Pokémon, or hunting down their targets.

"Just the six I've trained personally." Mars replied with a grin that showed her sharp canines.

"That's all?"

"That's all I'll need."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"We can help you save Mokuba!" Tea protested as Kaiba tried to leave, "He's our friend too!"

Kaiba snorted, "I can handle Noa. If I were you I'd worry about him." He gestured towards one of the great stone plinths in the area.

Yugi turned to look, "Nesbit!"

Nesbit, still wearing Tristan's body laughed at them. "Yes and it's not just me in here!"

"We're all using this body, and between the five of us, we'll crush you." Crump crowed.

"If you want your friend's body back, you'll duel us." It was Lector's turn now and he addressed Yugi directly.

"Five on one isn't fair." Joey protested, as Yugi stepped forward, ready to accept the challenge.

"It isn't only Yugi we're challenging." Lector gave him a look that clearly stated that he'd missed something.

"We're challenging everyone who shares their avatar with another." Johnson was out now. "So that includes you, Francis."

Jamie's midnight blue eyes flickered to Yugi, who nodded at her calmly and switched with Yami.

"That still only totals four." Joey scowled. "So you can count me in. That puts the total at five on five."

"You sure about this Joey?" Yami asked, concerned.

"Fine." Johnson sounded amused, "But since its three bodies against one, we'll start with twelve thousand life points while you three start with four thousand."

"Are you five ready to lose?" Gansley demanded.

"No." Joey snorted, already beginning to have trouble keeping up with who was in charge of Tristan's body, which they seemed to be playing musical chairs with, "Cause you're the ones going down." Joey's disk activated last and the cards started scrolling past.

'_Pick your cards carefully and remember what I said about…'_ Bakura started.

"_I know, I don't need your help here."_ Jamie cut him off, _"I know what I'm doing."_ She picked her deck out and chose Kitsune Maiden as her Deck Master again.

Yami nodded approvingly and chose the Dark Magician.

Joey snorted, completely unsurprised by Yugi's choice and also made the obvious choice of the Flame Swordsman.

"Now then…" The Big Five's total climbed to a depressing total of twelve thousand, "It's time to Duel!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Sorry for the long wait, hope this makes up for it.**


	16. Escape

With twelve thousand life points to get rid of this was going to be no easy game and they all knew it.

Of course the Big Five were confident; they were the ones with the ridiculous life point total, and they believed that their five Deck Masters would give them an advantage over Yugi, Joey and Jamie's three.

"I'll start." Whoever was controlling Tristan now was using Deepsea Warrior as his deck master.

"Gansley." Yami growled, "Be careful. When he has two monsters on the field, his deck master allows him to bounce back the attack directly to us." He looked down the row to find Joey nodded and Jamie thinking.

"I play A Legendary Ocean." Gansley sounded far too happy about that.

A tidal wave appeared from nowhere.

"Get to higher ground!" Duke yelped, pushing Tea and Serenity away from the battle, towards the nearby rock outcrops.

The water crashed down in the middle of the field, rushing over the competitor's heads.

For thirty seconds or so the Duellists felt like they were drowning but their feet were leaden, leaving them unable to swim for the surface... then the water level dropped, falling to around knee height.

While Yugi and the others coughed up water, Gansley summoned Legendary Fisherman, in attack mode.

"Hey!" Joey protested, "You can't summon him without a sacrifice! He's a level five monster!"

"Actually..." Yami growled, "He can. Legendary Ocean reduces the level of all water monsters by one and increased their attack and defence by 200."

"All water monsters?" Jamie smirked, sensing Bakura's amusement at her elation.

"On both sides of the field." Yami nodded, guessing that she'd come up with a plan.

Jamie considered her hand and nodded her understanding as Gansley played one card face down.

"Your move," Gansley indicated Joey, who nodded, looking particularly amused by something, "Huh, guess what?" Joey chuckled, "Guess you're not the only one who can pull that trick." He summoned something, only for it to vanish under the waves without even showing its face properly. "Now I have a hidden monster too." He played one card face down to go with it, "Your move, Yuge."

Yugi had no big play, not that Joey or Jamie expected one of him this early into the match. Instead he just played two cards face down and nodded to Jamie.

She had a plan already, and set one monster in face down defence mode, which was pretty standard for her low level foxes, all of whom had special effects, and set two cards face down. "And then it's back to you, Gansley." She chuckled, completely unconcerned.

Gansley wasn't bothered either, and proceeded to summon his Rainbow Snake by tributing his Legendary Fisherman and went to attack Yami.

"I activate Spellbinding Circle." Yami countered, not only trapping the snake above the water, but decreasing its attack power by 700.

"Nice one, Yuge" Joey grinned.

Yami grinned back.

"Fine, I activate Alter of Mist." Gansley snapped. "In three more turns, I'll be able to use any Ritual card in my deck!" Gansley scowled. "It's your move, Wheeler."

"Let me show you what a real Legendary Fisherman can do." Joey crowed, "Legendary Fisherman, spear that over sized snake!"

The Big Five lost five hundred and fifty life points, which barely made a dent in their huge total, but it was something.

"And now it's Yuge's turn. Show him what you got, pal!"

Yami nodded, "I summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts, in attack mode!" The huge furry creature appeared on the field, roaring its defiance. "Attack him directly!"

The Big Five lost another fifteen hundred, pushing them below the ten thousand mark.

"That end's my turn." Yami looked pleased.

"And starts mine." Jamie smirked, "And thanks to your Legendary Ocean, it's going to be a good one. I flip my Blazetail Fox, using its effect to burn away 500 points!" The Beast/Effect monster appeared on the field and shot fireballs at Gansley, who flinched away from the heat as his points dropped. "And not only that, I sacrifice my Blazetail Fox for my Frostbite Fox!"

Joey cheered, remembering the icy fox that was Jamie's trump card when she couldn't get her Seven Tail Fox out, was a water monster, so not only did it rise to 2600, but she could get it out with only one tribute.

"Now Frostbite, attack him directly!"

"I activate Changing Destiny!" Gansley crowed.

Yami hissed as Frostbite Fox switched to defence mode.

"What does that do?" Jamie demanded.

"Your fox can't change to attack mode while it's face up on the field, plus you get to chose between either letting me gain 1300 life points, or taking that much damage yourself." Gansley gloated.

"Damn." Joey growled.

'_Take the damage.'_

"'_Kura__…"_

'_It's my match too. Take the damage; they have enough life points already.'_

"I'd rather take the damage then let you have any more life points." Jamie said out loud, allowing for Bakura's point about the Big Five's life points. Hers dropped to 2700. "I activate Chicken Coop and end my turn."

During her end phase, a chicken coop appeared, with a chicken sat on the roof.

"Uhhh… Jamie?" Joey asked, confused.

"Trust me, I have a plan." She replied simply.

"Plan or not, you're going to lose." 'Tristan' sniggered.

"His voice changed!" Joey complained.

"They've switched." Yami nodded.

Deepsea Warrior changed out for Nightmare Penguin.

"You're the one who fought Tea, aren't you?" Jamie demanded, "Crank or something."

"Crump, my name is Crump." 'Tristan' squawked, as he set a card in defence mode, "You'd do well to remember that." He set a magic or trap card face down. "Not that it's going to matter much longer. Not once three turns have passed and we can play any ritual card we like."

Joey growled, Yami's scowl deepened and Jamie poked Bakura, who had as much of an idea about what the Big Five were planning as she did.

"It's your move, Wheeler." Crump snorted, waving at the blonde, who scowled and drew.

"Legendary Fisherman, take down his face down card!"

Crump activated his face down card.

The attack reflected back off of a shield that suddenly covered the face down monster and destroyed both Joey's Fisherman and Yami's Gazelle.

Crump was sniggering when the smoke cleared. "You walked straight into my Mirror Force." He laughed, frustrating the others in the duel even further. "It looks like we'll be taking your bodies sooner then we thought."

"I don't think so." Yami growled, having been waved to take his turn by Joey, setting a pair of cards face down and setting something in defence mode. "Jamie, if you would..."

Jamie drew. "Frostbite Fox can't attack," She called after setting another card face down, to go with her face down card and her chicken coop, "But she does have another effect. By skipping my Battle Phase, I can remove one monster from play from the field and I choose your face down card."

Crump's card disappeared.

"Your move, bird boy." She waved at him, smirking as another chicken appeared on the roof of her chicken coop.

Nightmare Penguin swapped out for Judge Man.

"I pay one thousand life points to activate my Deck Master's special ability!" Johnson called, sounding far too amused by this, "Clear the courtroom!"

Jamie's Fox and Yami's face down card disappeared to the graveyard, causing Jamie to swear rather loudly, especially when their points dropped by five hundred per monster destroyed by the move.

"And I summon my Clockwork Knight." The 1900 attack point Machine monster appeared on the field, water splashing against metallic legs, sword raised. "Now, let's see." He scanned the field, taking in how much of a threat people were.

No one had any monsters out, Jamie had two cards face down and her Chicken Coop, with two chickens, whatever good they were, Yami had three cards face down and Joey had just one.

"Clockwork Knight. Attack Mr Wheeler directly!"

"I activate Stop Attack!" Jamie bellowed, using her trap to protect Joey's life points.

"I active Trap Jammer!" Johnson's face down card flipped face up and Jamie's trap exploded.

"Magic Cylinder!" Yami's voice was just audible over the noise.

Clockwork Knight reached Joey, was absorbed by the cylinder and fired back at Johnson, knocking the Big Five's total down to 6550.

"Nice try Johnson, but with my friends backing me up, you don't stand a chance!" Joey crowed.

Yami was slightly less confident. The clock was ticking. They had to end it this turn, or the Big Five would use their Ritual card and he had a horrible feeling he knew what they were going to summon.

"My move?" Joey asked, taunting Johnson.

"Just go."

"I summon Rocket Warrior." Joey called, summoning his Light Warrior/Effect monster to the field. "And I use my Deck Master's special ability to transfer one thousand attack points from the Flame Swordsman to my new monster."

Rocket Warrior's attack grew to 2500, while Flame Swordsman's dropped to 800.

"Now Rocket Warrior, attack his Clockwork Knight!" The warrior monster blasted straight through the machine, destroying it easily and knocking another six hundred points off. "That's all from me."

"My move then." Yami nodded, drawing and grinning, "I play Monster Reborn to bring back my King's Knight and then sacrifice him for my Dark Magician Girl!" King's Knight appeared only briefly, then Dark Magician Girl appeared on the field with a flourish of her staff. "Dark Magician Girl, attack him directly!"

Another 2000 down, another 3850 to go…

"I'm done."

"My move then." Jamie nodded, drawing and nodding to herself, "I play Reincarnate Fox Spirit, which allows me to summon my Frostbite Fox back from the Graveyard and I activate one of my facedown cards, Kitsune Clan, which increases Frostbite's attack by another five hundred to go with the two hundred your Legendary Ocean gives her, giving her a grand total of thirty one hundred attack points! Frostbite Fox! Attack!"

This fresh assault left the Big Five with just 750 life points left.

"Next turn, we're going to end it." Jamie smirked, "Your move."

"You won't get a next move." It wasn't Johnson any more, the Deck Master was Jinzo, who destroyed all of thier trap cards the moment he took the field, causing Jamie to cuss, so it had to be Lector, "It's been three turns since we activated Alter of Mist and I hold the most powerful card the Big Five have, here in my hand."

"What are you summoning?" Yami demanded warily.

"I'm sure you'll know, when I tell you the Ritual Card I'm pulling to my hand is Dragon Revival Ritual."

"No!" Yami yelped.

"What?" Jamie demanded.

"He can't, can he Yuge?" Joey demanded, "He doesn't have enough monsters!"

"Very perceptive. However I do have five Deck Masters, all of different attributes, who I can use as tribute!" Lector laughed.

Joey swore, making Jamie turn to him and demand an explanation.

"They're planning on summoning Five God Dragon." Yami explained for him.

"Five God Dragon?"

"Oh of course, you haven't been introduced yet." Lector sounded amused by this fact, "It's time to remedy that fact." The big five took it in turns to call their Deck Masters and then all five of them disappeared. "Come forth, Five Headed Dragon!"

The dragon that appeared towered over everyone, bellowing so loudly that it drowned out their voices and even once it had settled on the field, its low growling made it difficult to hear anything.

Jamie backed up a step. "Arceus damn it…" She muttered, "That thing's bigger then Palkia!"

"Jamie be careful." Yami called over, "That thing has five thousand attack points."

"You're kidding me!" Jamie protested, looking at the Pharaoh.

"I wish. We're just lucky it can't attack this turn."

"You're half correct." Lector snorted, somehow his voice carried easier then theirs did, probably lousy coding or a ploy by Noa, "You see when it's summoned, Five Headed Dragon destroys all magic, trap and monster cards on the field!"

Everything was blown away, including A Legendary Ocean and all their monsters.

"I play one card face down. Now take your last turn."

"What are we supposed to do?" Joey asked, defeat in his tone, "It's got five thousand attack points and only one type of monster can defeat it…"

"What do you mean?" Jamie demanded.

"Five God… I mean Five Headed Dragon can't be defeated by an element that makes it up. So Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Dark monsters are completely useless against it." Yami explained.

"So that leaves Light and Divine, right?"

Yami nodded, seeing where her train of thoughts was going. She wouldn't have a chance to summon her Seven Tail Fox though, unfortunately. Not now that Five God was on the field. It was just too powerful for the much weaker foxes. Unless…

"We can beat it." Yami said confidently. He had a plan, and Jamie had a plan… "Just have confidence in your deck and in your Deck Master."

"Alright, Yuge." Joey nodded and drew, pulling a face as he saw what it was. "Alright, I set these three cards face down." The cards appeared on the field, "Swordsman, go for it." Joey nodded to the Flame Swordsman, "I call my Deck Master to the field."

Flame Swordsman stepped confidently out from behind his master and stood between Joey and the humongous dragon. "Your move Yuge."

Jamie frowned slightly when Joey called Yami by Yugi's nickname but said nothing. This was no time to be causing trouble. Maybe later, once this match was over, but not while everything hung on the edge like this.

"I call my Deck Master to the field." The Dark Magician leapt over Yami and landed gracefully on the field.

"You're making this too easy." Lector sniggered, "Once I destroy your Deck Masters, you'll lose."

"It's still our turn." Yami retorted, "We'll show you what real teamwork can do. I play Polymerisation to fuse together the Dark Magician and the Flame Swordsman." Dark Flare Knight appeared with a total of only 2200 attack points.

"You fool!" Lector smirked, "That new monster of yours in a creature of Darkness and Five Headed Dragon can only be killed by a creature of light."

"We'll see. Dark Flare Knight, attack!"

"What?" Jamie yelped, watching in horror as Yugi and Joey's combined Deck Master was blown away.

"They're gone! Just one left!" Lector crowed.

"I think not." Yami retorted, still standing, "Thanks to Dark Flare Knight's special ability. When he's destroyed, I can summon Mirage Knight to take its place." A knight in golden armour appeared. This time it was a Light monster with 2800 attack points.

Still not enough.

Or it wasn't until Mirage Knight absorbed the attack points of Five God Dragon, pushing it up to a punishing total of 7800.

Five Headed Dragon exploded.

"Both your Deck Master and your life points are gone." Yami smirked, "That means this duel is done."

"Not quite." Lector laughed, as his points dropped to 375, "I activated my face down card, A Deal with Dark Ruler, which, in exchange for half my life points, stopped me taking damage when your Knight destroyed my dragon, and it allows me to summon this…"

The ground shook and a huge skeletal dragon appeared. Not as big as Five God Dragon but still terrifying.

Mirage Knight separated back into Dark Magician and Flame Swordsman.

"Alright," Yami suddenly looked a lot less confident, "I activate Magical Hats, so you'll have to find my Dark Magician if you want to destroy him and I pay one thousand life points to duplicate the effect of any magic card on the field and I choose Magical Hats, which hides Joey's Deck Master."

The Pharaoh gave Jamie a look which clearly said 'sorry', but she knew he couldn't do that for her. Her turn was next after all, she had no monsters to hide and even if she did, Yami couldn't afford to pay the life point cost to duplicate Magical Hats again.

"It's my move then." Jamie sighed, drawing her card and staring at it.

"My only choice is this," She sighed. "I play one card face down in defence mode and two cards face down, then I have to end my turn."

"You're serious?" Joey gave her a scared look. "That's all."

"I have no other moves." Jamie shrugged nonchalantly. "Not this turn anyway."

"Then it's my move!" Lector sounded amused. "And I hate to tell you this but your hats are worthless."

"What?"

"My monster can attack every monster on your side of the field." Lector sniggered, "So I can take down both of your Deck Masters and Francis's face down monster at the same time, even with those hats."

"Mew…" Jamie looked over to Joey and Yami, who had suddenly been hit by the realisation of what that meant…

"Then this is it?" Joey asked, worried.

"I'm sorry." Yami's head was bowed, his tone defeatist.

Lector was laughing manically. "Prepare to lose it all! Berserk Dragon! Attack!"

Berserk Dragon bellowed his superiority and started charging his attack, flames growing inside his mouth…

"I'm sorry, Tristan, I tried my best…" Yugi's voice only just carried over the noise.

"We're not done." Jamie called, then turned to Lector, "You declared an attack, which means my face down card gets flipped up." It flipped to reveal a startlingly white fox who looked like it was formed from wax and had a small wick in its head.

Yugi's eyes widened, shocked, then he gave a relieved grin.

"And the monster I had face down was my Candle Fox." Jamie continued to explain. "One of my weaker foxes, but she has a flip effect. When she's flip summoned, I can destroy one monster on my opponent's side of the field."

Berserk Dragon was consumed by a ray of light that dropped out of the sky and took the dark dragon with it when it vanished.

"And with your Deck Master gone, all five of you lose the Duel." Jamie smirked. "We win. Tristan goes free."

"No, this can't be! I can't be defeated like this!" 'Tristan' collapsed to his knees in disbelief.

"Nice move, Jamie!" Joey crowed.

"Thanks." She didn't admit that she was lucky that Berserk Dragon had attacked all of their monsters simultaneously. Her deck just wasn't designed to work in a multiway duel.

Jamie stepped forward as the others climbed down off the rocks.

"You cow." Lector staggered to his feet, "How dare you defeat me in such a manner?"

"My name is Jamelia Francis, I'm the Aspiring Champion for the Sinnoh League. I don't answer questions from liars and scumbags like you." Midnight blue eyes flashed angrily, "Now release Tristan's body, or do I have to go to Noa?"

"You little witch!" Lector lunged forward, and for a moment he had his hands around her throat, then the Ring was reacting and Lector went flying, crashing into the ground hard.

"That is enough!" Noa's voice echoed around them, sounding furious. "You five have failed me for the last time."

In a burst of white light Tristan, and everyone possessing him, vanished.

"Hey!" Jamie protested.

"Get back here!" Joey bellowed.

"Should've known they wouldn't keep their word." Duke snarled.

"Are you alright?" Serenity asked Jamie.

The Trainer nodded, sapphire eyes showing how troubled she was by this whole thing. "Sorry." She muttered.

"For what?" Joey demanded, "You saved our hides out there."

"I let them get away."

"Can't be helped." Yami shrugged, "You sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. Just tired." Jamie waved him off. "So now what? We don't know where Kaiba is and Noa sounded pretty pissed, so I don't think we'll be seeing him or the Big Five for a while…"

"Where ever Noa is, Tristan's virtual body is likely to be nearby." Joey growled.

"And how do we find Noa?" Duke demanded.

There was silence for a moment or two then Joey snapped his fingers and looked at Tristan.

The robot monkey backed up nervously. "What?"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Their cave was well hidden, part of the tunnel system beneath Mt Coronet and plenty of escape routes. The teams hadn't found them yet, as they focused on taking out each person who entered the caves.

Raids were made outside. There were three bases nearby, and they had successfully gathered a fair bit of information about the plans.

The Trainers left here were ruthless, mirroring the ruthlessness of the nearest Team.

Anyone who wasn't was already gone.

So when that Meowth found them…

A talking Meowth. Who would have believed it if they hadn't seen it?

He just appeared during breakfast one day, well out of reach for the Trainers, asking if they were the local Resistance.

News was passed around.

They weren't alone. They weren't the only ones left fighting.

Something big was going down.

The Meowth took their news and was gone the next day.

Those that feared it had been a trick were proved wrong when the Teams weren't immediately led to their base.

So there was hope.

Hope was too valuable to waste in these times.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

They had no choice but to trust Noa now.

After defeating Seto by using Mokuba as a human shield and turning the Kaiba Brothers to stone, Noa had been thoroughly convinced of his victory, however Yugi and Yami, who had been more angry then Yugi's friends had seen them in a while, had somehow managed to defeat him, even when starting off with only 400 life points against Noa's scary, but not record breaking total of 7400.

This had freed, not only Seto and Mokuba, but all of them from their imprisonment in stone, for, after Tea had annoyed Noa with her friendship speeches, Noa had started turning each of those still on the ground into statues, one by one, after each of Yami's turns.

But with this final failure, the one Noa had been trying to impress had finally revealed himself.

Noa wasn't the only Kaiba locked inside this virtual world. Gozabora had fled here after being beaten at the game of business by his step son and was now planning to use his virtual network to hack into every computer on the planet and trap every living human inside the virtual world.

He claimed it would make him a god, though Jamie was willing to put this last one as ravings of a lunatic.

Crazy or not, he had sealed off all the exits from the virtual world, leaving them trapped and unable to do anything about his insane scheme.

Until Noa had told them about a back door he himself had programmed into this virtual world that Gozabora couldn't know about.

No one trusted him, really but there was no other choice.

If they wanted to stop Gozabora, and Jamie did, if only to stop Gozabora piggy backing on a Galactic device and ending up in her world, they had to go with Noa and hope that, for once, the small, obsessive, slightly crazy and now betrayed young Kaiba would actually help them do this, if only to strike back at his father.

"This is it." Noa played with some controls and gestured towards the door, "Go through here and you'll be back in the real world."

"No tricks." Bakura, who had grabbed control the moment Jamie had been free of the stone, the fact her avatar was frozen in time forever having somehow affected his code too, snarled, "Or I'll hunt you down and deal with you myself. Got it?"

"Don't worry, this door leads back home." Noa retorted, having had quiet enough of the spirit's attitude.

Bakura scowled but when Jamie appeared at his side, he retreated, allowing her to face whatever was behind that door.

"Ready?" Noa asked.

Before anyone could answer, the door was flung open and everyone was blinded by a brilliant white light.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Haunter was exploring the halls of the huge ship.

He and the Gym Leader, for that was the role that the Trainer who defended Domino City had filled in his mind, as it was the Gym Leader's job to protect the city they were based in, had made an agreement. He would protect the infirmary and in exchange she would allow him to cause trouble for the dark one who had called the shadows that had absorbed his partner-in-crime's old host and caused him so much pain when he'd tried to help.

But that had been, if the Doctor's complaints were any thing to go by, over five hours ago and he had decided that the friend the Gym Leader wanted to protect would be safer if the dark one was off the airship and as such had taken delight in teasing the man, who had been hit by Confuse Ray and then fallen for the illusions Haunter cast all too easily, and making him leave the blimp.

He'd lost interest in that game when he'd found that the golden dagger sheathed in the gold, blood and souls, which made up the item, was one of the few human weapons Haunter had ever come across that could actually hurt him.

He never wanted to touch one of gold those things again; spirit shadow was more then welcome to them. They hurt the ghost Pokémon every time he touched one, and the souls used to create the items had called to him when he'd been struck by the knife, whispering stories into his mind.

After that he'd been desperate to lose the knife wielding maniac long enough to ghost through a wall and escape.

However during this flight of fear he'd managed to get himself lost.

The robots weren't too much of a problem. He'd only had to destroy one or two before working out how to slip past them without being caught, and they didn't have any weapons that could hurt him anyway. Those silly light beams might be hot and bright, but they didn't do more then pass through his spectral body and burn the wall.

It was the fact that he hadn't kept track of where 'he' had been 'running' while he'd been winding the dark one up and the ship had far too many corridors.

Yet he hadn't come across a single human being.

This was both weird and boring at the same time. It was fascinating to see how machinery did the jobs of people, but at the same time, he couldn't scare these machines.

He knew that for a fact.

He'd tried.

He had caused some of them to break though. That had been fun for a while, but since they had all broken the same way, it had gotten old rather quickly.

So now he was just going from room to room trying to find his way back to the blimp, knowing the Gym Leader would be annoyed if she knew he'd left his post and, since spirit shadow was currently playing musical chairs with bodies and was currently sat in hers it was likely he would be too, which would be a shame considering Haunter really quite liked the ghost who normally rested inside the white-haired light, and, though Haunter didn't strictly belong to spirit shadow in the same sense as the Gym Leader's Pokémon belonged to her, he did want to continue working with the other ghost, even if its soul reeked with blood.

After all, that ghost was the most interesting person Haunter had met in over a hundred years. Who could blame him for having gotten bored after all that time and deciding he wanted someone to cause mischief with?

Haunter slipped through yet another, identical, door, only to find the ice dragon's brother running down the corridor.

Except it wasn't the ice dragon's brother…

This was interesting…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

It was hopeless.

No matter what they did, they were going to lose to the power of Slifer the Sky Dragon. Marik had actually done it, actually built an unstoppable combination...

Yami, who had been shaking ever since he'd first felt the power that radiated from the 'God card', fell to his knees.

He'd failed.

When he lost, the Puzzle would belong to Marik, the world would be in danger and Yugi...

Marik had sworn when this match started that if Yami lost, Yugi would die...

And yet there was nothing he could do. He had no more powerful monsters to play, no hidden tricks up his sleeve. There was nothing in their deck that could defeat a monster that was impervious to trap cards and had eight thousand attack points...

"_Yami, wait!"_ Yugi's mental cry broke through the stunned acknowledgement of defeat. _"This isn't real!"_

'_What?'_

"_This isn't real! We defeated Slifer! This is just a memory!"_

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Please Tide, you have to get up!" Jamie begged her Marshtomp, desperately pleading with it to get to its feet.

"Just switch Pokémon." The Magma Admin, Ashley, sniggered, her Houndoom roaring in victory, "It's obvious that it can't continue."

"Tide, please, I need you!" Jamie watched as the swamp Pokémon pushed itself to its hands and knees.

"Unless..." Ashley's smirk widened, "Oh don't tell me you only have your Marshtomp left."

Jamie froze, having feared that she would work it out sooner or later.

"I have to say I'm impressed with your stones, kid." The admin was full out laughing now, "And impressed you almost pulled it off. If you'd defeated my Houndoom, I would have left, never knowing this last stand was more desperate then heroic."

"My team have beaten every Grunt you have." Jamie growled, keeping Ashley talking, giving her Marshtomp more time to recover, "And Tide and I have defeated two of your Pokémon."

"But now your little 'last stand' is over, kid." Ashley shook her head, aware of what Jamie was trying, and amused that the brat thought she could pull it off. "Surrender and I might consider sparing your sister and her friends, in exchange for you joining Magma."

"Jamie!"

Sapphire met sapphire as Jamie gazed at her terrified little sister.

"Two words and she goes free."

"Marsh..." Marshtomp squirted her in the face with a spout of water, bringing Jamie's attention away from her sister and back to the battle. "Marshtomp Mar Marshtomp!" The Pokémon, who had staggered back to his feet, was not demonstrating its strength.

"You want to fight?" Jamie asked, surprised, though the little voice in her head told her she shouldn't be, all her Pokémon were as bloody minded as she was.

"Mar!" Her starter Pokémon nodded.

"You won't win." Ashley warned,

"We'll fight and we'll win." Jamie declared, "Right Tide?"

"Marshtomp!" Tide pounded his chest.

"Houndoom, Fire Blast!"

Tide leapt away, realising too late that it wasn't him the attack was heading for, but his Trainer, firing off a Water Pulse attack to try to defend her...

Steam flooded the room and for a second she thought her Pokémon had actually managed to stop the attack.

Then there was heat and pain and screaming...

'_Jamie!'_ The little voice in her head, the one she often listened to in emergency situations, had suddenly become male and much louder and insistent. _'This is ancient history dragged up by Noa! It's a memory! Snap out of it!' _

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"What're you saying Yuge?" Joey was confused. He'd only just broken free of Marik's mind control and now his mind kept throwing up the fact that Yugi was talking like… talking like he didn't expect to get out of this alive.

"I'm saying I've decided to save you, Joey." Yugi explained.

"I can't let you do this, Yuge!" Joey protested. He couldn't let Yugi die to save him! He couldn't!

"It's my decision," Yugi's voice wavered, exhaustion and pain obvious from his tone, but no fear, not anymore, not even with full knowledge of what he was about to do. "So now..."

"No Yugi!" Joey shook his head, cursing that he'd let Marik grab him, that he'd let Marik brain wash him into hurting Yugi as badly as he had, cursing that there was nothing he could do to stop what was about to happen.

"Take care of my Puzzle." Yugi's smile was peaceful. He'd accepted his fate, he'd done what he'd been trying to do, and he trusted that Joey could protect the Puzzle after... "Now, Ref Panel, direct the attack towards me!"

"NO!" Joey bellowed as the Meteor of Destruction struck Yugi, who cried out as the flames struck, the smoke obscuring Yugi for a moment or two, then his friend could be seen all too plainly as Yugi fell, either unconscious already or nearly there, at the same time as Joey's key box opened.

"Please." Yugi managed to raise his head but his voice was weak, so much so that Joey had to strain to hear him. "You have thirty seconds to free yourself. Then the anchor falls."

"No..." Joey shook his head, still trying to think, "Don't give up, Yugi, I'll think of something." He pleaded when Yugi's last act, before he slipped into the painless black of unconsciousness, was to remove his Duel Disk. Then the idea hit him like a ton of bricks. Meteor of Destruction's other effect... "Red Eyes, attack me directly!" Joey ordered.

His dragon answered his desperate plea, blasting him with an incredibly watered down version of his Inferno Fire Blast, knocking his life points down to zero, opening Yugi's key box.

Leaving behind his Duel Disk, the Puzzle and his key, he swung across, horribly aware of the timer counting down until the charge inside blew and both he and Yugi were dragged under without their keys…

"Got it!" Joey was triumphant as he grabbed the key for Yugi's cuff, but the feeling lasted only a few seconds, then the bomb blew, the anchor fell and both he and Yugi were pulled under.

The coldness of the water hit him hard and though he nearly dropped the key in his shock, it knocked the last of the fuzziness left by Marik's control out of his head.

He had to…

Wait…

The last thing he clearly remembered was passing through that portal that was supposed to lead back to reality.

A memory flashed past. Yugi saying Noa could tap into their memories…

Was this just…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"Go, I'll hold them off!" Tristan demanded, looking at Duke and Serenity as they fled from the Rare Hunters.

"But…" Duke hesitated, looking back over his shoulder, only to see their enemies catching up.

"What about you?" Serenity squeaked.

"Just go!"

The three turned around at the sounds of something heavy landing. "Jamie?" Tristan asked, as the Trainer in question dismounted, gave the three a quick grin, and turned to the creeps, giving them her best death glare. "Hi guys. I can handle this."

"Where's Tea and Yugi?"

"I don't know, Tristan. Yugi got Kaiba to track Joey, but I was midair, searching for you lot, before I could hear where he and Tea are."

"Step aside, we're not afraid of any holograms." One of the Rare Hunters snorted.

Jamie snorted, "Marik obviously didn't tell you about me. Iblis is no hologram."

"Jamie?" Serenity's voice sounded uncertain.

"It's me, don't worry about your brother, Yugi'll find him. Trust me, he'll be fine." Jamie looked over her shoulder at the two boys, "Get her out of here."

The black haired male went to run for it, then something occurred to him.

"Why are you a monkey?" He demanded of Tristan.

The idea hit the three of them simultaneously. "The virtual world!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Seto turned away from Yugi's battle with Slifer. He'd been the one who had gotten Yugi's head back into the game when this had happened for real, but he wasn't going to play into one of Noa's illusions, if Yugi couldn't snap himself out of it, it was his problem.

Seto had far more important things to do, like find his brother.

And since this was a virtual representation of Domino, he was certain he knew where that creep Gozabora would be…

Kaiba Corp.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

When the realisation that this was just a memory hit one, it hit all of them simultaneously.

The memories vanished and they were left in Domino Central Park.

'_That's it!'_ Bakura snarled as Jamie took a deep breath and tried to think things through clearly, _'I'm going to find Noa and I'm going to rip him limb from limb.'_

"_I think you might have to join the queue."_ Jamie watched Joey and Duke rant.

'_I have first ri__ghts on any vengeance.'_ Bakura growled.

"_Then come out here and tell them that."_ Jamie chuckled, making Joey and Duke wheel on her.

"What's so funny?"

"Bakura says he has first dibs on Noa." Jamie chuckled.

"Can he even Shadow Game anyone…" Joey was cut off when Yugi shoved him to one side, causing the blade, which was wielded by one of the Skull Knights who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, to miss Joey.

Yugi would have been hit instead, if Yami hadn't appeared behind him and pulled him out of the way, before summoning Black Luster Soldier, who easily took down the Skull Knights.

Yugi retreated into his soul room.

Fuelled by anger and inspired by Yami's summoning of his knight, Joey called on his Red Eyes Black Dragon, who blasted another set of monsters to kingdom come, while Jamie, midnight blue eyes flashing, called her Third Eye Fox.

They fled through the streets, avoiding staying in one place too long in order to avoid being swamped by Duel Monsters. Red Eyes and Third Eye Fox at their back, Black Luster Solider clearing the path in front of them.

"Attention, can all of you hear me! This is extremely important!"

They froze, costing Jamie her fox as a Skull Knight, who had just fifty more attack points then the Light Beast/Effect monster, took it down before Black Luster Solider could get to it.

"Noa!" Joey snarled.

"Get down here!" Jamie growled.

"This is a warning to all of you! The virtual world you're in is about to be destroyed!"

"That little…" Jamie's hands balled into fists, "He couldn't beat us, so he's gunna kill us?"

"I'll kill him first!" Bakura was out and furious.

"You'd better let us out of here, Noa!" Tea snapped.

"I'm sorry for what I have done, but a satellite will destroy the ship, taking the main computer with it! If it's destroyed the virtual world goes with it! Your minds will be gone forever!"

"Arceus!" Jamie swore. If the ship was destroyed it wasn't only their minds that would be gone. Their bodies would be too.

"Listen, I can help!" Noa pleaded, "The only exit is at the Domino Arcade. Hurry, time is running out!"

"Can we trust him?" Tea asked fearfully.

"Trust Noa? No way." Joey shook his head.

"We," Tristan made a monkey noise, "No choice, Joey."

"I hate to say it," Bakura growled to Jamie, "But the monkey has a point."

"Let's go." Yami nodded.

Bakura disappeared and they ran for the arcade.

"Guys!" Serenity squeaked.

The monsters were catching up again.

"Jamie, guard them, get them out safe." Joey nodded to Tea and Serenity. "We'll be right behind you."

"I'm not going without you Joey." Serenity protested.

"Just go, sis." Joey said, not taking his eyes off of the monsters.

"Come on Serenity. The boys can handle themselves." Jamie summoned one of her Cloud Foxes as Serenity picked up Tristan, nodded to Joey and led Tea, Serenity and Duke down the street. They were only a block away now. They'd make it and she had faith Joey would get there safely too.

They reached the arcade and Jamie covered the entrance while the others started the upload to the real world, using the huge dance stage.

"Jamie!" Joey darted in the door.

"Serenity's gone. Tea and Tristan too."

"You and Duke go next, we'll be right behind you." Yami gestured.

"Alright." The pair of them took the stage.

And woke up in the real world.

Brown eyes, instead of sapphire focused on the child sat in the seat at the desk. "Noa!"

Joey, who had just woken up and only just avoided hitting himself in the face with the glass, saw Yugi was still out and had time to swear and get between the kid and 'Jamie' before a rather pissed off Tomb Robber got out of the pod and started stalking towards the kid, as Bakura checked Jamie's Pokémon were ok before he turned towards the subject of his ire. "Bakura don't." Joey growled. "We still need him."

"Get out of my way."

"I understand why you're so pissed off, but we don't have time for this. Unless you want Jamie to die because you had to challenge Noa?"

"You should go." Noa, who was still in Mokuba's body, warned them.

"You'd better bring Yugi back safely." Joey snarled at Noa.

"I will."

They ran for it, reaching the blimp as the engines started.

"Come on, Yuge…" Joey hovered by the entrance.

"There they are!" Tristan sounded relieved as he saw Seto, Mokuba and Yugi running towards the blimp as the blimp started lifting off.

Tristan caught Mokuba, who was thrown at them by Seto, the CEO leapt on and Joey managed to pull Yugi onto the blimp, only by dint of hanging practically off of the ledge.

"Go. Go! GO!" Tea screeched.

The blimp shot off as fast as it could, but it wasn't going to get away…

Kaiba raced towards the bridge.

A few seconds later, the balloon part of the blimp disappeared and the huge shuttle like ship gained speed, breaking free of the explosion.

"We made it!" Joey cheered as they left the huge ball of fire behind.

"So now what?" Tristan asked.

"Mai!" Jamie squeaked, sapphire blue eyes showing her panic.

She raced for the infirmary, Joey on her tail, and though they caught a glimpse of Marik, it appeared that Haunter, who was still hovering outside the door, had kept the psychopath at bay as the Doctor reported that no one had disturbed them and there had been no change.

Both good news and bad…

Haunter, instead of going off and winding up Marik like Jamie had assumed he would, instead stuck close to Jamie, making her worry about what Marik had tried while she had been gone.

"Are you alright?" She asked the Gas Pokémon, who nodded. "Go have fun." She would have pushed him, had he not been a ghost. "You've earned it."

"We've all earned a vacation." Joey growled, "But I'm going to beat Marik and get Mai back before I go on mine."

Jamie nodded.

Thinking of vacations, that reminded her. She needed to talk to Kaiba.

It looked like her break was over…

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Mokuba's PC which was hooked up to the Kaiba Corp mainframe had been left on when he'd left the office quickly to deal with problems during Battle City, but it would be months before something crashed badly enough for Mokuba to need to look through the backup files to see if he had a file with all the changes in.

As such it would be months before he would notice a file called virtnoa. bac

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Finally, virtual world is over. Back to Battle City soon. Sorry for the delays. The end of Spring term brings with it deadline after deadline after deadline, blegh, however as I now don't have anything due till after Easter, I can pause and do a bit of writing. Roll on Summer term. I have three pieces due in just after Easter but once they're in, I just have to revise for my exams, so I will have more time to write. (Finally)**


	17. Time Travel

Pending an interruption less flight, the Kaiba Corp blimp would be landing on Kaiba Corp Island at 4:43pm JST, much later then Kaiba would have liked, as it meant it would probably be dark by the time the finals were played (and of course he wanted everyone to be able to properly see him beat Yugi into the ground) but giving everyone time to recover from the battles in the virtual world before a fresh round of Duels ensued.

Yugi, who was leaning against the rails that surrounded the duelling platform watching his friends and trying to not to think about what was to come, didn't know what Jamie had discussed with Kaiba, but whatever it was, it had made Jamie happier and by extension improved the mood of her Pokémon. She had been brushing her Pokémon's fur, buffing their scales, tending to any small injures, but now she was just sat, surrounded by her Team, just soaking up the sunlight.

Joey was teaching his sister about Kaida, the right places to pet her, the right way to buff her scales, to shine the orbs on her tail and what passed for her neck and the Dragonair in question loved the attention. Even a complete idiot would be able to see that she was preening and her flippant attitude had helped everyone calm down a bit.

Tristan and Duke were stood on opposite sides of the blimp, alternating between glowering at each other and watching Serenity, something which Joey was not as oblivious to the two boys would have liked, though he was doing his best to ignore the looks until he had a moment to talk to them privately, loath to give up this moment of tranquillity.

Jamie sat up when Aisu nudged her, and the Trainer coaxed her Gyarados into moving his tail to allow Tea to join them.

"Heya," The Trainer waved, from her place, resting comfortably against her Charizard, "You alright?" She asked, patting the floor beside her.

"I'm good." Tea nodded, joining her and immediately getting nudged by Shade, the Mightyena putting his head in her lap, demanding attention which Tea was more than happy to provide. "How're you holding up?"

"Not bad, my team are looking good; we made it out of the Virtual World safely..."

Tea pursed her lips, "Uh huh, but how are **you** doing?"

Jamie looked surprised for a moment or two, as if she hadn't expected to be asked how she was feeling when she wasn't the one who was in danger, making Tea wonder if she'd ever had anyone who had been worried about her on her travels, then the icy haired girl nodded, "I'm fine, a little tired, but it's been a long day and we haven't even hit the semi-finals yet."

Tea sighed, glancing at Joey, who had paused midsentence to look over when the word 'semi-finals' had been uttered, and then at Yugi, who had lost his composure for only a millisecond or two, before looking over questioningly. "You sure you don't need to get some rest?" Tea worried at her, "It's going to be a long night too…"

"I'm ok." Jamie grinned and stretched, "This is quite relaxing enough."

"_Is it bad that I agree with her?"_ Yugi asked as Yami appeared at his side in spirit form. _"I mean I know we still have to stop Marik but…"_

'_No she's right. You have to take any chance you can, grab any peaceful moment you can get, because they can be few and far between.'_ Yami said,_ 'I'm surprised someone her age knows that lesson already. Some people three times your age have yet to learn it.'_

"Besides," Jamie continued, "It's a nice afternoon and I get to spend some time with my team without having to deal with visitors." She looked up when Tsunami nodded towards the railings. She moved away from her Pokémon and towards the rails, looking over and calculating the drop. "Sorry Tsunami, we're still too high. You might get hurt. Wait until we start to land and I'll let you go for a swim, ok?"

Tsunami looked put out and proceeded to use Rain Dance causing Iblis to snarl and let loose a small flame from his mouth in anger and Bakura's Flygon screeched in protest.

"Hey!" Tristan protested as clouds appeared, the skies suddenly opened and everyone was drenched in seconds.

"Tsunami!" Jamie scolded, quickly recalling Iblis to protect the flame on the end of his tail, "There was no need for that!"

The Gyarados looked smug.

"Jamie?" Tea asked, as she watched Denkou dancing in the rain.

"Huh? Oh." Jamie chuckled, watching her Raichu, "She loves the rain, the only thing she likes more is thunder storms and no!" She saw Denkou get a mischievous look, "That was not an invitation to start one."

"Raichu?" Denkou asked, tilting her head at her.

"Because we're on an airship!" Jamie shook her head, "An airship? In the air? Making it a big fat target?"

"Rai Raichurai." Denkou sulked.

"I give up." Jamie growled, "If you want to start a thunder storm, wait until we've landed. I'd rather not be a huge target, thank you."

"No don't." Tea interrupted, looking at Denkou.

"Rai?" The Raichu looked curious.

"Knowing Rich Boy he'll have us battling on top of the highest thing he can find." Joey growled, "And being hit by lightening once is quite enough for me."

"Can we take this conversation inside please?" Duke asked, rain dripping off of his bangs.

"Give me a sec." Jamie nodded, recalling everyone but Aisu and looking around. "Has anyone seen Haunter?"

"Not for a few hours, but it's bright out, or it was," Joey glowered as he recalled Kaida and they headed inside, "You told me ghost Pokémon don't like sunlight."

"True." Jamie nodded, wondering whether Haunter was off aggravating Marik, "He's probably fine. It's not like there's much that can injure a ghost."

"Other ghosts, dark types and occasionally psychic types, right?" Joey questioned. He'd been fascinated by the Pokémon from the moment he had started helping Jamie out on a part time basis, and as such had been taking lessons on Pokémon care off of the Day Care Leader at every opportunity he got.

"Yeap," Jamie chuckled, "You pick this stuff up easier then some of the Trainers I know."

"Maybe if he paid as much attention in school as he does to what you teach him, he wouldn't be failing." Tristan looked impressed despite what his tone implied.

Joey muttered something unintelligible under his breath but didn't start a brawl, mostly because he was trying to be on his best behaviour while his sister was around.

The lift descended, taking the lot of them down to the floor where the food hall was, hoping for something to eat, just in time to hear someone scream and the loud clang of something metallic hitting the floor.

Haunter ghosted through the wall, waved at the group, and then vanished through the wall the other side, to another round of screams.

"Looks like we found Haunter." Joey sniggered.

Jamie facepalmed.

A woman in an apron stormed out of the room Haunter had ghosted into, spotted Jamie and stomped up to her, giving her a death glare and pointing accusingly. "This is your fault! Control your damn creature!"

"He's not mine," Jamie protested, surprising the others by backing up slightly, "I can't control him. Haunter's only trying to have fun."

"Well that ghost is causing mayhem all over the ship! He's scared half the staff, blown up the microwave, ruined dinner and you're the only one who can deal with the damn creature. He's just lucky I saw you before I saw Mr Kaiba. I suggest you deal with that thing, before I have to disturb Mr Kaiba's preparation time!"

Jamie sighed, "If you'll excuse me guys. I've got a ghost/poison type to track down." She disappeared around the corner before Yugi could say anything and the woman, who looked rather smug, went back into the room she'd stormed out of and was presumably the source of the rather loud instructions that were heard until the door slammed shut.

There was silence for a few seconds, as the group tried to process exactly what had just happened, then Yugi looked over his shoulder. "I should probably catch up with her."

"Did something happen?" Joey frowned, "You've been sticking closer to her then normal."

"It's because of the Ring, isn't it?" Tea asked. "Has something happened to Bakura?"

Yugi hesitated.

"Marik." Joey snarled, catching on almost immediately, "Can't he leave anyone alone?"

"That's why Jamie has the Ring?" Tristan demanded.

"What happened to Bakura?" Tea asked quietly, concern for Ryou obvious.

"Jamie took the Ring before Marik could grab it." Yugi explained, "She's guarding it for Bakura, because he's her friend. I don't know what happened to Bakura. I think Marik sent him to the Shadow Realm."

His friends all reacted in different ways. Joey swore, well aware that it was highly likely that Jamie now had a huge target on her back, Tristan growled something unintelligible, Tea blanched and Serenity and Duke knew enough to be worried.

"I'll find Jamie." Joey sighed, "Last thing we need is for you to find Jamie, only to get pulled into a Shadow Game because she couldn't stop Bakura taking control."

"But..." Yugi hesitated.

"I'll be fine. Besides, I have more experience with Pokémon then you do. I might have better luck helping with Haunter then you would. You're coming Serenity?" His sister nodded and the pair of them headed down the corridor after Jamie.

Tea watched them go, concerned. "You sure it's safe?" She asked Yugi.

'_If you don't let Joey deal with it, he'll think you don't trust him.'_ Yami pointed out before Yugi could answer, _'He knows Marik is after Jamie and he still told you to stay away. You have to trust he knows what he's doing.'_

"Joey'll be ok." Yugi nodded, more to Yami's comment then anything else.

Tea pursed her lips but nodded.

Yugi's stomach rumbled.

Duke chuckled and opened the door to the dining hall. "We'd better get something to eat before Yugi starts eating himself." He said, holding it open for the others.

"Come on." Tristan steered a hesitating Yugi into the dining hall, "Food first. Worry about duelling later."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"You sure everything's going to be alright?" Iason worried as he sent out his Dragonite.

"You trust me, don't you Iason?" Yuki asked. The dragon trainer nodded. "Well, then stop worrying. You'll only be gone for a couple of hours and you've been wanting to get out and go flying with Dragonite for days. Shoo…" She chuckled, pushing him towards the huge Dragon Pokémon, who, as usual ignored everyone but her beloved Trainer.

"Don't let anyone wander off, and if Galactic come calling, don't let them catch anyone." Iason told her as he climbed onto Dragonite's back.

"I know, I know, just go already!" Yuki slapped Dragonite's thigh and the huge Pokémon launched herself high into the air, the downdraft knocked Yuki over and sent the objects toppling over.

Yuki picked herself up and watched the pair disappear, heading for Canalave City to speak with the only Gym Leader who hadn't closed their doors, and those whom he sheltered, possibly because the port there was unsubstantial and there was little else there that warranted concern, so the Galactic presence was low, about possible passage to Iron Island or New Moon Island, for the Cheryl and the younger Trainers before Iason brought his group into direct confrontation with Galactic's Eterna branch.

She'd watched the group grow in strength and saw their trust of the twenty one year old Trainer from Blackthorn City increase as he helped them train and got them out of some sticky situations, but, no matter what they thought her allegiances were, it had to end here.

Yuki had nothing against the group, she liked Nuri and Diana well enough and, if she hadn't already pledged her allegiance to someone else, she would have followed Iason into battle willingly, but, as it stood, now that Iason and his Dragonite were away and unable to help the others, she had to take this moment to act.

She pulled her Pokegear out of her pocket and dialled a number she had had saved under a different name specifically so that she wouldn't be caught.

"This is Snow reporting." She murmured quietly, looking around to check no one was listening in.

"It took you long enough." The voice on the other end snapped, "You have another assignment waiting. Mars requests that you report in to the Eterna branch immediately."

"Confirmed." Yuki nodded, though the man on the other end couldn't see it.

"We'll send someone to replace you." The man, who sounded like her co-worker, Flame, growled.

"No need, Flame." Yuki hissed, "The dragon Trainer just left, the target's wide open."

"About time." Flame sounded amused, "We'll send a Team in immediately."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"That must be the Duel Tower." Joey exclaimed, looking up at the huge, shiny metal tower that was taller then the Kaiba Corp building. "I told Jamie that Kaiba would find the tallest thing possible to get us to Duel on."

"Where is Jamie?" Duke asked, looking around, confused. Understandably so since one minute Jamie had been with them and the next she hadn't.

In a burst of red light, Tsunami appeared, bellowing and looking at someone or something that was hidden by a pile of scrap metal for a moment, before he vanished in a huge wave and Jamie could be heard cussing her Pokémon from here to Domino.

"I can guess." Tristan sniggered.

"Well she did promise him a swim." Tea sighed, wondering if Jamie had any spare clothes on her.

"I'm just glad Denkou didn't start that thunder storm it was thinking of." Joey shuddered, still looking at the tower. "I don't know what the point of coming all the way out here is though, Kaiba has that new stadium he's building, and Kaiba Corp's big enough as it is."

"The island we're standing on is the site of the original Kaiba Corp." Mokuba explained as he, Seto and Houndour disembarked from the blimp, having caught the tail end of Joey's complaint. "My brother tore it down years ago."

"So why are we here now?" Joey complained.

"Because I plan on beating Yugi at the very top of my Duel Tower." Kaiba sneered at Yugi who didn't look particularly amused.

Yami took over, about to deliver a stinging retort when Joey growled and told Kaiba exactly where he could get off if he thought that Kaiba was going to defeat him this time.

"You're not even supposed to be in this tournament Wheeler," Kaiba snorted, with an amused smirk at the mutt's barking. "You rank amateur!"

Joey was about to snap back when a high pitched whistling sound caught their attention, making them turn towards where Tsunami had been moments ago.

"Jamie!" Joey yelped, dropping any argument he had been about to have with Kaiba, surprising the CEO, and racing towards the sound, clambering over the shrapnel that was piled up around the small cove and snarling as he found out what was wrong, Yugi only seconds behind him.

Marik, Millennium Rod just starting to glow, had backed Jamie into a corner.

"Get away from her!" Joey snarled, sending out the first Pokémon he could get a hold of, "Kaida, help her!"

The Pokémon that appeared in a burst of red light was most defiantly not Kaida.

In fact Marik swore and had to get out of the way quickly, as a gigantic blue Pokémon with red eyes, pale blue markings, metal armour around it's head and torso, which had a blue gem of rather starling beauty embedded into it, wing like blades on it's back and some rather threatening looking steel claws appeared with a roar, it's left front foot where he had been stood only moment before.

"What in Arceus's name…?" Jamie breathed, scrambling away as quickly as she could, shock obvious, reaching the top of the heap she'd been stood against before she turned to gaze upon the Pokémon in all its glory.

"Jamie, I thought you said that Dragonites were cute." Yugi's stunned voice was only just heard over the roar emitted by the Dragon/Steel Pokémon.

"That's not a Dragonite." Jamie replied, "That's… Joey how did you capture…"

"I didn't." Joey replied, staring at the Pokémon, then at the Pokeball which had fallen to the ground only a couple of feet away. It was white on the bottom, like a normal Pokeball, but on top it was a dark purple with two magenta spots and a white M on it. "Kaida brought me the ball."

"It's just another Pokémon." Marik snorted, unimpressed and ill amused by the fact he'd had the Trainer where he'd wanted her before Joey's interruption.

Jamie's nervous chuckle made Marik glower at her. "That's not just another Pokémon, that's Dialga, the Lord of Time!"

"Lord of Time!" Tea asked, shocked.

"Uh huh." Jamie nodded, edging towards the group, suddenly glad that Tsunami hadn't been able to hear her call, "Said to be the Pokémon created by Arceus, when Arceus brought life to our universe, to rule over time, Dialga is quite possibly one of the most powerful Pokémon ever…"

"I'm not afraid of your Time Lord." Marik snarled, taking steps towards the group.

Dialga roared.

Joey, Marik and the Pokémon disappeared for a moment or two, and then Joey and Dialga were back, but not Marik.

"What did you do?" Yugi, who had grabbed control when Yami had frozen at the sheer power emitted by the Pokémon now stood before them, asked, staring at Joey.

"I… I dunno."

"I do." Jamie breathed, sapphire eyes still wide, now biting her lower lip, "That was Roar of Time. Marik could be anywhere in the past right now."

"What?" Tristan demanded, "You're kidding! You have to be!"

"No, I'm not." Jamie shook her head, turning to look at Joey, who picked up the Pokeball and recalled the Temporal Pokémon who had been shifting restlessly, eying up the Master Ball in his hand, "Where did you send him?" She demanded.

"I don't know." Joey admitted, "Dialga directed the time travelling bit, I just went along for the ride."

"Man…" Tristan ran a hand through his hair, staring at the Pokeball in Joey's hand.

"So does this mean we won't have to deal with Marik now?" Tea asked, confused.

"It depends on how far back Dialga sent him." Jamie said, calming slowly and trying to ignore the schemes Bakura was coming up with in the back of her mind for what he'd do if he got his hands on that Pokeball. "If it was only a few hours, he's around here somewhere, but if it was more then a couple of days…"

Silence fell as the implications were obvious.

"Are you coming or not?" Kaiba, who had seen the huge Pokémon be sent out, disappear with Wheeler for a few seconds, reappear and be recalled, but had missed the explanation, demanded, impatient to get on with his Tournament.

"I think Team Galactic must have tried to capture him." Jamie said as they walked along the path that had been ploughed through from the blimp landing site to the tower, "But why they used a Master Ball is beyond me. I'd have thought a Red Chain like the one they used on Palkia would be better."

"What's a Master Ball?" Tea asked quietly, when no one else spoke up.

"It's a Pokeball that can capture any Pokémon, no matter how strong they are and forces them to obey the one holding it. As you can imagine they have a bit of a reputation, but this is the first time I've seen one up close." Jamie explained, "Normally, if Silph Co makes a batch, either one of the Team Rocket steals them to use themselves or sell on for a ridiculous price, or they go to a member of the Elite. Most Trainers don't like using them though."

"You mean Dialga has no choice but to listen to me?" Joey looked at the ball in disgust.

"I'm afraid not." Jamie shook her head, "As long as Dialga's linked to that ball, it's stuck with whoever holds it."

"How do you free a Pokémon?" Joey demanded, glowering at Jamie.

Jamie shied away from the look, understanding Joey's anger wasn't really directed at her, but still not willing to face it. "You'd have to break the Pokeball, but I don't know what will happen. Dialga could return to the Torn Dimension, what we call the space between worlds where Dialga, Palkia and Giratina come from, or it could rampage here and end all life as we know it."

Joey hissed and kicked at the dirt, causing it to billow up in a cloud of dust.

"Couldn't we use Dialga to kick Galactic out of Domino once and for all?" Mokuba asked, guessing that Dialga was powerful, considering it could 'end all life' as they knew it. "If it's that powerful, it should be able to take Palkia down easy."

"NO!" Jamie yelped, wheeling on the younger Kaiba brother, panic obvious. "Dialga and Palkia can't be allowed to meet! If they do they'll start fighting and everything will end! This world, my world, it'll all be over! We don't have Arceus or Giratina to stop them!"

Joey hissed again, steadily growing more and more unhappy with the situation.

"Pharaoh!"

Yugi turned towards the voice, and before he'd finished moving his head, Yami was in control and glowering at a ragged looking Marik, who looked pretty damn annoyed.

"Guess he wasn't sent too far back." Duke murmured just loudly enough for Tristan and Tea to hear.

"What do you want Marik?" Yami demanded.

"It's about time you got here. Sending me back in time a couple of days did nothing but give me time to plan more ways to torturing you."

"Hey artichoke head, you're going down!" Joey snapped.

"_What's an artichoke?"_ Jamie asked Bakura since it was wholly inappropriate to ask anyone else at this moment of time.

'_Shhh, I'm watching Wheeler make a fool of himself. I doubt he knows what an artichoke is either.' _

"I doubt it." Marik snorted back at Joey. "You caught me off guard with your Lord of Time, that won't happen again." Marik turned to Kaiba. "When do I find out who my next victim is?" He demanded of the Kaiba brothers, the older of whom looked severely irritated at this point.

"Just chill out. We'll tell you inside the tower, is that clear?" Mokuba demanded, disliking Marik more and more with every encounter, his Houndour growling threateningly at the corrupt Tomb Keeper.

"Then let's finally get this tournament going so the fun can begin." Marik chuckled menacingly.

Joey's growl matched that of the Dark/Fire Pokémon as Marik followed behind the group, and he received an amused yet understanding smile from Yami for it as they reached the doors to the huge tower.

"Duellists," Considering all the delays, they weren't surprised that Roland, Kaiba's right hand man, had some how gotten here before them, "Welcome to the Duel Tower."

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Iason and Byron were deep in talks when Iason's Pokegear went off so loudly at it startled them both.

Checking the caller id, Iason apologised and took the call. "Nuri, what's wrong?"

"Galactic. They attacked the house." The ten year old whispered. "Yuki's with them."

Iason swore, getting to his feet so quickly that he knocked over the chair he'd been sitting in. "Where are you?"

"The Old Chateau. A bunch of us fled here after Miranda sent us away, but the place is flooded with Grunts. I think I'm the only one left."

"Hang tight. I'll be there soon, I promise."

"I…" Whatever Nuri was about to say was cut off as someone opened the door to wherever she was hiding with a bang and the girl dropped the Pokegear, with a cry. "Let me go!"

The call disconnected.

"Nuri! Nuri!" Iason shouted down the phone. "I've got to go." He said without apology to the Gym Leader, who just nodded, and he ran for the exit, trying to call Nuri back and swearing when the only answer he got was 'The number you have dialled is unavailable…'

He was only seconds out of the doors when he sent out his Dragonite, and she didn't complain when he climbed on her back and ordered her to fly back to Eterna Forest quickly, she could sense from his tone and attitude that something was very wrong.

He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid, entrusting the care of the group into the hands of a Galactic sympathiser, how had he not known?

He'd thought that Yuki was on their side. She'd certainly ranted about some of the things Galactic were up to often enough…

Had it all been a lie? A clever ruse to get them to let down their guard for a moment like this?

Or had Galactic managed to get to Yuki somehow, gotten at someone close to her perhaps…

Not for the first time did Iason wish he had his best friend, Raven, at his side. Between the pair of them, this wouldn't have happened.

Now he had to pray he wasn't too late and that he could save his friends before they were shipped off to the Otherworld or worse.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"So the more life points they lose, the higher they go, and the first two to reach the top, by losing all of their points, are the two who will face off in the first round of the semi finals?" Jamie asked, looking up and finding herself unable to see the top.

"That's right." Mokuba sounded smug but Tristan couldn't help but wonder if there were barf bags provided, especially considering that Joey really disliked heights.

"The rules are thus," Roland started, once the four Duellists were in place, "All four Duellists will participate at the same time. As you lose life points, your Duel Terminal will climb, the first two to reach the top will face each other in the first round of the semi-finals."

Joey said something, but no one could catch what it was, what with the Duellists being something like twenty foot in the air above them.

"On your turn, you can attack any of the other four players. Your decks may only consist of forty cards so prepare your decks now."

Since Yugi's deck normally averaged that, Joey only needed to take out a few cards, Kaiba had known about the forty card rule when he'd prepped his deck last night and Marik had only five or so that he had to remove, it took the Duellists very little time to be ready.

"Now connect your Duel Disks to the terminal, this will display all cards currently in play." All four did so and all four terminals activated, "Remember this Duel does not effect your rankings in the tournament, it only determines who will face whom in the semi-finals."

"That's good then, right?" Tea asked, "Because the pressure's off."

"Not exactly." Duke shook his head. "This could be the most important Duel these guys play."

"What do you mean?" Tea asked.

"I get it." Jamie nodded, considering the Duellists above her. "If you plan it right, you can pick who you're playing in the next round and get an opponent you think you can beat easily, right?"

"Uh huh. Two Duellists could even gang up on one if they wanted." Duke nodded.

'_This could be interesting.'_ Bakura murmured, as Duke continued to explain to Tea and Tristan. _'Both Kaiba and Marik want to fight the Pharaoh.'_

"_I don't know who I want to fight who."_ Jamie admitted. _"I don't want Joey to fight Marik, but I'm not sure Yugi could beat Marik without Obelisk…" _She shuddered both mentally and physically as the memory of Ra's attack on Bakura surfaced.

'_Wheeler's in trouble no matter who he gets.'_ Bakura confided in her, _'He doesn't stand a chance of defeating any of the God cards and the Pharaoh's not likely to hold back just because they're friends. He wants to win this tournament too badly.'_

"_Yugi won't end up against Joey."_ Jamie shook her head, causing Tea to look at her, _"Both Yugi and Joey want to fight Marik, and both Kaiba and Marik want to fight Yugi, only one of them can get what they want."_

"Jamie?" Tea asked cautiously. "You alright?"

"Just thinking." Jamie nodded.

"Was it…" Tea carefully indicated the Ring while trying to avoid catching the attention of Yugi or Joey as the duel kicked off.

"Bakura thinks Joey's done no matter who he gets, I'm waiting to see who gets their way." Jamie nodded, watching Kaiba play a face down card and summon a monster. "Someone's going to be unhappy no matter what the match ups are."

"I know." Tea bit her lip.

Jamie wanted to reassure her, but in truth she couldn't bare being here, watching this and knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do to help. She'd have been about as much use staying back with Serenity, keeping an eye of Mai…

"I'm going to check on Serenity." Jamie nodded, making up her mind. "I'll be back before the semi-finals get started." She paused as Joey lost life points and went up the tower, his yelp catching her attention; "He really hates height, doesn't he?"

"Yes… are you sure you don't want to watch?" Tea asked, a little surprised.

"The nerves are bad enough in here without me adding to them." Jamie nodded. "I'll be back in time to watch the next round." She turned and looked at Mokuba, "Activate the lift for me?"

Mokuba, not taking his eyes off the Duel, nodded and swiped his security card through the scanner.

The lift tinged and Jamie stepped inside.

"_Good luck guys. You're going to need it."_

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

Iason and Dragonite landed at the Old Chateau, only to have to immediately fight off the weak Pokémon of a group of grunts.

Neither of them were in the mood to play nicely either, Dragonite used Dragon Pulse and Hyper Beam to blast away the rattatta, zubat and stunky. Iason took the turn that Dragonite had to rest to dismount but before he could order another round of attacks, Yuki came into sight, following a tall, stocky man with red hair.

"You shouldn't have come, dragon Trainer." The man said, smirking.

"Who are you and what have you done with my friends?" Iason demanded.

"My name's Flame." The man sniggered, "And your friends are now guests in our care. Yuki did an excellent job, don't you think?" Flame asked, indicating the teenager stood next to him.

"Why, Yuki?" Iason asked, not ignoring Flame, Iason got the impression they were waiting for him to let his guard down, but turning slightly towards Yuki. "I thought you were our friend."

"I was, for a while." Yuki nodded, "But…" She hesitated.

"What did you do?" Iason growled, looking at Flame, "What did you do or say that made her turn?"

Flame snorted, "It wasn't hard, not with the right promise."

"Iason, please, join this side. They said that if we turn, they won't send the others to the Other World." Yuki pleaded.

Iason hesitated. On one hand he wasn't sure he could trust Yuki again and he certainly didn't trust this 'Flame' character one inch, but on the other could he doom the others to life in the Other World.

"Yuki, if you came back to my side, we could free the others." Iason countered slowly, "Between my dragons and your ice types they wouldn't stand a chance. If you'd just come to me in the first place…"

"You'd have done what, Iason?" Yuki demanded a little bitterly, "You've only just thought about bringing us into conflict with Galactic! What would you have done differently? The only way to save the others now is to turn yourself in…"

"I would have sent the younger ones away sooner," He was careful not to mention Cheryl, who had been out when he had left and he was unsure if she had returned before Galactic, "Started fighting long ago. We can still save the others. Please, fight along side me. Together we can win."

Yuki hesitated, then walked forwards, towards Iason.

"Yuki! What are you doing?" Flame demanded.

"What I must." Yuki said, pausing just yards away from Iason.

Iason bit back what he was about to say, letting her make the final choice.

Icy Wind blew through the forest, tiny ice shards striking his Dragonite, causing her to bellow in protest and Iason wheeled around to try and see where the attack was coming from.

Without warning, Snow struck, using Ice Punch on Iason, sending him sprawling.

Iason rolled over, recalled his Dragonite and sent out his Absol, confused when he saw that 'Yuki' had no Pokémon out. "How?" He demanded, shuddering a little with the cold that penetrated where her punch had frozen his jacket. His eyes widened, "You're an Awakened PKNE Positive… Let me guess, ice, right?"

"Took you long enough." Snow smirked, "I've been living with you for weeks and you've only just worked it out?"

"You didn't exactly show it off while you were with us."

"I didn't trust you fools not to keep me under close guard once you knew. After all PKNEs are much sought after by both sides, especially Awakened ones. Galactic just met me first."

Iason snarled. "You never were on our side, were you?"

"No." Snow admitted, reaching for her Pokeballs, seeing no need to use her own attacks when she had Pokémon that could attack for her, "I've been part of Galactic from the beginning, part of an elite squad within the Team actually." She sent out her Weavile. "Strike him down, Weavile."

Iason reacted instinctively, though surprise and disappointment clouded his judgement, "Absol, take her out!"

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

"_I wish I was Awakened."_ Jamie groused to Bakura as she stood guard over the infirmary, _"I'd challenge Marik."_

'_Awakened?'_ Bakura asked, sensing the turmoil inside his friend, _'What's Awakened?'_

Jamie smiled slightly, knowing Bakura could take the knowledge from her without any trouble and glad that Bakura held enough respect for her that he'd ask rather then take. _"PKNEs have two stages. Sleeping, like me, and Awakened."_

'_What's the difference?'_

"_Awakened PKNEs can Attack."_

'_Attack? You mean how Pokémon attack?'_

"_Uh huh,"_ Jamie was amused by Bakura's disbelieving tone, after all, was it so impossible for people to develop a way to defend themselves when Bakura regularly used magic, _"Awakened PKNEs have the ability to use moves of their type. For example if I Awakened, I'd be able to use Dragon Pulse or Twister."_

'_Do you only get one attack?'_

"_Would you believe that it's a switch around? Instead of the Trainer teaching the Pokémon, the Pokémon can teach the Trainer."_

Bakura chuckled. _'Really? The Trainer learns from the Pokémon?'_

Jamie was about to respond when the phone went off.

"Hello?" Jamie asked, answering it quickly. "Alright, thank you Mokuba. I'll tell Serenity. Thanks, bye." She put the phone down and turned to the younger Wheeler. "Your brother is about to fight Marik. Do you want to watch?"

Serenity hesitated. She did, but at the same time not only did someone have to keep an eye on Mai, but she didn't want to see Marik torture her brother the way he had Mai.

"I have an idea." Jamie nodded, more to herself then anything. "I'll give you my Pokegear number, and if you want to join us, give me a buzz and I'll come and get you, ok?"

Serenity nodded. "Thanks, Jamie."

"No problem." The Trainer grinned. "See you once your brother's trounced Marik."

"See ya."

Serenity watched the Trainer dart out the door, the ghost Pokémon that was currently only listening to her standing guard over the door again, and turned towards the window just in time to see Jamie and Iblis take off and fly towards the Duel Tower.

Just moments after the red speck, which was all he could see of the Charizard once it reached the same height as the top of the tower, landed, the Shadows closed in around the tower.

The game had begun.

**LINE-RECOGNITION-HAS-GONE-AGAIN**

**Author Note: - So the semi-finals have begun… Joey vs Marik… **

**I've created a website where I will be posting fan fiction. When I post a new chapter it will join those already on the site. This new website will not mess with the formatting the way does. **

**The web address is **joeytaylorfanfic(dot)weebly(dot)com


	18. Wounded

Oh God it hurt…

Joey had never realised before how much the Duel Monsters he sent into battle were hurt by the attacks that were thrown at them, but now he was getting a first hand lesson.

"Joey! Stay strong!" He heard Tea call. Saw his friends on the side lines, cheering him on.

"Aiiii." Kaida sang, swimming through the air around him, encircling him with both her body and a green barrier, Safeguard Jamie had called it, the dragon having sent herself out when Joey had screamed the first time from the agony of the feedback from his monster and been shielding him from the worst of the physical attacks since.

Kaida nuzzled Joey, who paused before drawing to pet her head, knowing he'd be in a much worse state, without her help, then he was now. The only thing he didn't understand was why it wasn't counted as cheating for her to be protecting him and not Marik, surely it was an unfair advantage…

It wasn't that he cared about Marik, as far as he was concerned the freak could rot for all he cared, he just knew what Yugi had told him about cheating here of all places.

Still the Shadows weren't complaining, so he wouldn't either.

Marik was amused that Joey was still on his feet, attributing the teen's resilience to the creature with him, who could do little about the feedback damage, but was proving to be shielding Wheeler not only from things like the heat of the Lava Golem, but the drain imposed on both sides by the Shadows, which Marik was protecting himself from using the powers of the Millennium Rod.

Joey considered his options. Currently there weren't many. He was still in Lava Golem's damn cage and he was still losing cards from his hand, one at a time and already a few of his best magic and trap cards had been taken. It was supposed to be random, but it was always good cards that were taken.

A thought crossed Joey's mind briefly. Perhaps that was the payment for Kaida's help, or Marik was somehow guiding his monster.

At least that damn Plasma Eel wasn't attached to his Panther Warrior anymore, even if he couldn't get to Marik's life points because it was sat there in defence mode in front of Marik.

"That's me done. For now. I'll get you next turn." Joey snorted.

700 life points slid away, in time with the lava that dripped from the golem sliding down the outside of the green shield covering him.

Marik drew and smirked, a look Joey was getting very bored of. "I activate Machine Duplication, turning my one Plasma Eel into three."

"Crap." Joey growled, knowing what was coming and no looking forward to it.

"Go Plasma Eels, drain his monsters of points."

Joey screamed from the pain of the feedback from his monsters, as two of the three Eels attached themselves to his monsters, electricity feeding down the chain attached to Lava Golem and, thankfully, though he wouldn't appreciate it until the assault was over, arching around and climbing the green bubble.

"Even with your Pokémon's help, it's not going to be long before you're too weak to move, yet alone duel!" Marik crowed, watching as the assault ended and, for the seventh time since the Duel had started the green bubble fell.

"Arceus…" Jamie breathed.

"He'll be ok, Jamie." Duke, of all people, tried to reassure her. "After all, he's got Kaida."

"That's what I'm worried about." She said, watching the Dragonair, who wasn't floating as high off the ground as she had been and had bigger gaps between her Safeguard attacks. "I don't know how much longer Kaida can keep this up, she's tiring and if she goes, Joey's going to be defenceless."

"Is that all you've got Marik?" Joey demanded, holding onto on of the bars and scowling at the rogue Tomb Keeper. "C'mon, this is nothing! It's gunna take more then that to keep us down, right Kaida?" Joey asked.

"Aiiiii." Kaida nodded, glaring at Marik, seeming fine, but no one missed the fact Joey had needed to keep himself upright for a moment there. This Duel was taking more of a toll on him then Joey was going to admit.

"Then I shall play one card face down and let you go." Marik snorted, amused by Joey's bravado.

"Come on, Joey! Come on Kaida!" Jamie called, knowing support from the stands from her family had gotten her through the finals in Sinnoh and not knowing what else she could do. "You can do it!"

"Yeah, go Joey!" Tristan shouted too.

He drew.

"I play Graceful Dice!" Joey said, "It's a card that's going to change my luck."

"How so?" Marik asked, disbelieving.

"I can use it to raise the attack of any monster I choose, and I choose your Plasma Eel. Once I do that, your Machine Duplication goes bye bye and so do your other two eels."

Marik growled.

"Excellent duelling strategy, Joey!" Yami grinned.

"All I need is a two and my plan works."

The little fairy like thing rolled the dice.

It landed on a six.

"Oh, yeah!" Joey crowed, as the Plasma Eel grew to 3000 and Machine Duplication exploded, freeing up his Rocket Warrior and the Lava Golem, leaving him with three monsters on the field ready to attack.

"I sacrifice all three of my monsters to summon my Gilford the Lightening!" The warrior appeared with a battle cry, "How does it feel to be staring into the face of defeat?"

Marik started laughing.

"I missed the joke." Joey scowled.

"Thanks to your magic card my Plasma Eel is now stronger then your Gilford the Lightening. Looks like your plan backfired, little Joey." Marik sniggered.

"Wrong!" Joey snapped, "Do you really think I'd be dumb enough to let that happen?"

"Yes!" Marik snapped back.

"I don't get it." Jamie turned to one of the others, confused.

"Gilford the Lightening has a special effect." Yami explained, "When he's special summoned using three monsters, he can destroy all the monsters on the opponent's side of the field."

"It's over! Gilford, wipe out his eel with your lightening sword!"

Gilford attacked, the Eel died and the satisfying (to some people at least) sound of Marik's pained cry filled the arena.

"But how?" The Millennium Rod wielder demanded.

"Someone's not paying attention. Let me say it in small words. Gilford has a special ability that destroys all of your monsters." Joey grinned, "That's what you get for not paying attention in class, Marik. Gilford, teach him a lesson the hard way! Attack Marik's life points directly!"

"I don't think so, activate Nightmare Mirror!"

Joey yelped as his monster attacked him instead of Marik by piercing the mirror.

"Now you're 1000 points weaker and all I have to do is discard one card from my hand." The Tomb Keeper sent the only card in his hand to the Graveyard, "Did you honestly think you could take control of this duel away from me?" Marik smirked, "This is a Shadow Game, you fool, which means I make all the rules."

"Not all of them." Joey snorted, unphased, he'd been on much less then 1200 points before. "Or Kaida wouldn't be able to help me. I end my turn."

Marik drew and started laughing maniacally.

"That doesn't sound good." Jamie bit her lower lip.

"Enough with the laughing already, just play the card and let's move on." Joey demanded, weirded out and slightly worried.

"You'll regret those words, you fool, for I'm about to eliminate you from this Duel with Ra!"

"Mew!" Jamie hissed and she was the only one who cursed, Tristan and Duke came out with much much worse. "He's going to do to Joey what he did to Bakura!" Jamie's eyes widened. "Bringing it back from the Graveyard!"

"Back from the Graveyard?" Tristan demanded.

Marik played Monster Reborn and the God monster appeared before them.

"But Marik's monster has zero attack points, what kind of strategy is this?"

"A dangerous one." Jamie squeaked, having seen this before, "Joey, be careful!"

The God monster changed into its Phoenix mode.

"My Winged Dragon has taken on the form of Egyptian God Phoenix. In this form it's unstoppable! Now my beast is ready, ready to feed you to the Shadows!"

"Hold on, last I checked this Duel was still on and my Gilford has more then enough attack points to stop your oversized chicken!" Joey snarled.

"It won't help…" Jamie whispered.

"Even your dragon cannot protect you from the devastation of Ra's attack." Marik crowed, "I pay Marik 1000 life points. Winged Dragon of Ra, destroy his monster!"

The fire bird shot forward, Kaida threw up another Safeguard and then all on the platform were consumed by flames.

"JOEY!" Jamie screeched.

"Hold on, Joey!" Yami called to his friend, the fear in his tone not just overspill from Yugi.

Joey's agonised screams were audible over the sound of the flames.

Flames were replaced by thick smoke and silence fell, other then Marik's laughter.

"Please, Joey…" Jamie couldn't look away, "Be ok…"

The smoke cleared.

Joey was still standing. Just. But the attack had been too much for Kaida, who had collapsed in a ring around her Trainer and looked unconscious.

"He's still standing! How? No one can survive the devastating attack of an Egyptian God monster!" Marik snarled.

"Th… thank you Kaida." Joey stammered, having trouble seeing straight, yet alone thinking, but knowing what his Dragon had just done for him.

With the end of Marik's turn, Ra returned to the graveyard.

"Alright… it's… my turn now… and you're wide open…" Joey struggled, drawing, "I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight!"

With 1800 attack points, it had enough to finish Marik.

"Hurry, call your attack!"

"A…" Joey got the first letter out, but then he started falling forward.

"JOEY!" Serenity, who had reached the top of the steps just seconds ago, screamed, scared for her brother.

Kaida opened her eyes and shot up, wrapping herself around her Trainer, holding him up, nuzzling him and crooning to try and get some sort of response.

"Come on, Joey! Wake up!" Tristan bellowed up to the teen, who was limp in Kaida's grasp.

"Joey, please!"

"K…Kaida?" Everyone held their breath as Joey half opened his eyes.

"Aiii." The Dragonair nodded towards the Duel.

Joey blinked, looked from Gearfried to Marik to Kaida, then nodded, and standing up, but relying heavily on Kaida's support, Joey looked at Marik. "Marik," His voice was weak, but audible, "It's over. Gearfried, attack!"

"THIS CAN'T BE!" Marik bellowed.

Gearfried's attack struck home and Marik's life points were blown away.

The Shadows vanished.

"The winner of this Duel is Joey Wheeler!" Roland announced to the shocked spectators.

Kaida collapsed, falling to the ground, and took Joey with her.

Jamie and Yami vaulted onto the platform, Yami darting to Joey's side and Jamie caring for Kaida.

"Is… she ok?" Joey asked, as Serenity latched onto her brother's side. "Jamie? Tell me… Kaida's okay right?"

Jamie did all the checks she could do without a Pokémon Centre. "I think so. I think she's just tired. She doesn't look injured…" Jamie tried to be reassuring, but she didn't know what kind of strain those attacks had put the Pokémon under.

"That's good." Joey nodded, forcing himself to his feet and turning to scowl at Marik, "Free everyone you're trapped in the Shadow Realm and give me Ra." He demanded.

Marik snarled something inarticulate back at him, glowering. The Millennium Rod glowing brightly and Yami moved between Joey and the crazed teen, his own Puzzle glowing in response.

"If I can't have the power of the Pharaoh," Marik snarled, drawing the dagger out of its sheaf, "No one can!"

He launched an attack on Yami, trying to stab the Pharaoh in the stomach.

Yami backed up to try to defend himself, but was shoved aside roughly, sending him toppling to the floor. Before he had a chance to get back to his feet, Joey had cried out, Serenity had screamed, a gunshot had gone off and Marik had hit the floor.

"Joey!" He turned to his friend to see the dagger lying on the floor, coated in blood, and Joey holding his side, his t-shirt torn, blood seeping through his fingers.

"Yuge…" Joey smiled slightly, trying to be reassuring, then his eyes slipped closed and Tristan caught him as he tried to join his Dragonair on the ground.

"We need a doctor, now!" Mokuba demanded, as he scrambled up onto the platform, ignoring the fact Roland had a gun and had shot a competitor, in favour of discovering how wounded Joey was.

Tristan applied pressure to the wound and Mokuba started barking orders into his radio.

Then the gang was at Joey's side, Serenity panicking, Jamie trying to be reassuring, Duke nervously hovering, Tea scared out of her mind…

'_Jamie,'_ Bakura called, _'Is Marik still breathing?'_

Jamie looked, he was unconscious but his chest was rising and falling, _"Yes."_

'_Then it's not over. Marik could try again and there's no guarantee he's released anyone.'_ Bakura growled. Jamie didn't respond to his comment, just turned back to Joey.

The doctors arrived and took Joey away as fast as they could, being careful of the wound. Another lot carried Marik away after handcuffing him to the stretcher.

"Yugi, you still have to fight me." Kaiba warned as Yami headed towards the lifts to follow them.

Yami snapped. "I'm not duelling anyone until I know Joey's going to be alright." He snarled, wheeling around and glowering at Kaiba.

Kaiba's eyes held a hint of understanding, only a hint but it was there, for just a moment anyway, then "If you're not here in an hour, you'll lose by default and your Egyptian God card will belong to me."

Tristan muttered something about taking Obelisk the Tormentor and shoving it somewhere unpleasant, and Jamie, after giving Kaiba an incredibly disgusted look, sent out Iblis and mounted, pulling Serenity up behind her, the three of them dropping off of the side and swooping down, levelling out thirty foot from the ground and escorting the doctors to the infirmary.

"Kaiba, if Joey is stable within the hour, I will return." Yami said with a rather forced calm, though his eyes betrayed his emotions, waving his friends ahead of him, glad Jamie had thought to take Serenity down on her Charizard, "But only if Joey is stable. I won't leave my friend while he's injured, just because you want to pacify your over inflated ego."

"I'll see you in one hour." Was Kaiba's only response.

Yami turned and left before his temper could get the better of him.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"Mai, you're alright?" Yami's eyes lit up with relief as he joined the others who were hovering outside the infirmary, waiting on news.

"I'm free. Thanks to Joey…" Mai smiled slightly, though there was a haunted look in her eyes, then she glanced at the door and looked down.

Tristan was pacing the floor, Tea, Mai and Serenity were sat together in a group by the door and Jamie was fiddling with her Pokedex, while Duke counted ceiling tiles.

"He'll be ok, I mean, it's Joey." Tea murmured, trying to be reassuring.

"I'll be back." Jamie said, unable to stand the atmosphere any longer and needing to do something, putting her Pokedex away and picking up her bag.

"Where did they take Marik?" Yami asked as she turned away.

"Wouldn't tell me." Jamie answered, glowering at the door, "One team of Doctors stayed here with Joey and the other lot went with Marik. I did try and follow, but…" She sighed, "I sent Haunter looking, but it'll take a while. There are a lot of rooms on this blimp."

"Thank you." Yami nodded.

"You're welcome." She nodded back, "I'm going to see if Ryou's back too. I have something that belongs to him." She indicated the Ring and left.

Tea moved over a bit, to make room for Yami, but he shook his head and leant against the wall, Yugi, in spirit form and not willing to talk to anyone, sat down by his feet, with his knees tucked up and his head low, blaming himself for Joey's injuries, and nothing Yami could say or do helped.

All they could do was wait.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"Ryou."

Ryou, who was stuffing himself stupid with food in one of the kitchens, turned to look at the Pokémon Trainer in the doorway.

"I guess you want to return that." Ryou indicated the Ring.

"It was never mine." Jamie shrugged. "I've just been keeping it safe."

The teen snorted. "I should say no, I don't want it back, considering all the trouble it's caused me, but it's mine and I feel weird without out it so…" He put his hand out for it.

'_Jamie, before you give the Ring back to Ryou. I want to say something.'_

Jamie held up a hand, "Sorry Ryou, one moment." She tilted her head, listening carefully to what Bakura could possibly have to say, _"Go on, Bakura."_

'_Once the Ring is returned to Ryou, I want you to forget any attempts of hurting the Pharaoh for what his men did to my village.'_

"_But…"_

'_I have caused you enough pain already.' _Bakura continued, cutting Jamie off, _'I cannot stop you being my friend, but I do not want you drawn into my battle. Only I should pursue vengeance for my village. You do not believe in making the sons pay for the mistakes of the father.'_

"_Then it wasn't Yami who ordered the destruction, but his father?"_ Jamie's eyes widened in real life, making Ryou wonder what was going on.

'_That's right.'_

"_And you were going to tell me when?"_

'_Before you left.'_

"_You overheard that…"_ Jamie paused, biting her lower lip, _"I'll come back to visit, you know that right?"_

'_I know, but I want you to be able to focus on the real purpose for your journey. Not the feeble excuse you gave Kaiba, not the focus that you were gaining because of my past, your own goal. Let me focus on the Pharaoh and you go off and do your own thing.'_

"_But if he didn't issue the order…?"_

'_It's too late; I've gone too far to stop now. But I can keep you out of it. In some ways I'm glad you're leaving, it means I can't drag you down any longer.'_

"_Bakura, I still care for you, even with everything that's happened, you haven't dragged me down at all."_

Bakura sighed. She had no clue about what the Ring had done to her. Removing the Millennium Ring would do little now, except prevent her darker side from having access to magic. _'Just promise me you'll forget about harming the Pharaoh. I don't want you turning into another Marik.'_

"_Me? Like Marik? I'd need a Millennium Item for that, besides, I'm not stupid, I know I can't beat Yugi or Joey in a Duel."_ Jamie chuckled.

'_Trainer's honour.'_

"_All right, all right."_ Jamie scowled, _"If you really need it, I, Jamie Francis of Littleroot Town, swear on Trainer's honour not to attack the Pharaoh unless he does something monumentally stupid and deserves it. Okay?"_

'_Good.'_ Bakura sounded relieved. _'Now you'd better give the Ring back to Ryou. He thinks' you've gone nuts.'_

"_Of course I'm nuts. I befriended you, didn't I?"_ Jamie chuckled.

Bakura snorted, _'Just be careful, alright?'_

"_I will if you do."_ It was an old promise now, one they'd been using for months and it signalled the end of the conversation. Jamie took the Ring off and handed it to Ryou who held it with a mixture of relief and disgust.

"Thanks, Jamie." Ryou nodded.

"No problem." Jamie nodded. "Be careful, okay? Marik's in custody, but he could escape, so watch yourself." She handed back Flygon's Pokeball. "I'll send Haunter to you once he's found the nut job and reported back to me."

Ryou took the Pokeball from her. "Alright, you be careful too."

Jamie couldn't help smiling slightly as she turned to leave. "Don't worry, I will."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Mokuba was worried.

After speaking with the infirmary and with the Doctors in with Marik, whose Millennium Rod had been confiscated, he knew that both Joey and Marik were stable but needed much better facilities then they could provide aboard the blimp.

Unfortunately he'd spoken with his brother just after he'd gotten the information from the doctors, and Seto had said that they would be returning to Domino soon enough and that their medical faculties were good enough for the time being.

The problem was the blimp's engines.

They were trashed. Escaping from the explosion at Noa's aquatic base had burnt them out. They'd just about managed to limp here and once they'd been shut down, they just refused to start up again. There was no way they were going to be able to use the blimp to get off of the island.

He made a decision.

His brother wasn't going to like it and he would, most likely get into trouble for it, but he'd do it anyway.

He picked up the radio. "This is Kaiba craft three, can anyone hear me?" Mokuba asked, hoping for a response. "Is anyone out there?"

"We seem to be suffering temporary transmission interference due to our distance from the mainland." The pilot offered. To the frustrated child.

"Oh man…" Mokuba grumbled, "Come in, anyone, we need rescue copters, immediately."

The radio hissed and spluttered and then. "Come in Kaiba Craft three. This is Kaiba Corp."

"This is Kaiba Craft three." Mokuba sounded relieved.

"We read you, Mr Kaiba. How many injured?" The man on the other end asked, having easily recognised Mokuba's voice.

"Two. One gunshot wound, one stab injury. They cannot be taken in the same helicopter."

"Understood. Condition?"

"Stable but in urgent need of medical treatment."

"I'll get two choppers sent immediately."

"Thank you." Mokuba sighed, relieved.

"They should be there within an hour."

Seto would still be duelling then, if previous matches with Yugi were anything to go by.

"I need you to send an Engineer with the copters." Mokuba added. "Our engines are down and we can't leave the island."

"Understood." The man Mokuba was speaking to barked out a bunch of orders and then returned to the conversation, "Anything else, Mr Kaiba?"

"No, thank you."

"They're prepping the helicopters now." The contact on the other end said, "Estimated time to arrival, one hour two minutes."

"Thanks." When there was no reply, Mokuba sat back and let out a sigh of relief.

Seto wouldn't like it, but Mokuba hadn't just been able to stand by while Yugi and his friends needed help, they owed too much to the group and Seto had taught him to always repay his debts. That was, after all, the reason Seto had saved Tea during the Death Duel.

"Call me if there's another problem." Mokuba told the pilot as he headed out the door, "I'll be back before the choppers get here."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

They sat or stood there, in complete silence for a long time, the only sounds, Tristan's footsteps, mumbling from the infirmary… when Jamie rejoined them, minus the Millennium Ring, Yami tilted his head at her, questioningly, and she shrugged as she took a seat, but still silence…

"HAUNTER!"

Mai and Serenity screamed, Tea yelled, Yami jumped a mile, Yugi's head shot up, Tristan wheeled around and Jamie had sent out Aisu before she was even aware of what the noise had actually been.

"Haunter!" Jamie snarled, "Did you have to… never mind, of course you did." She sighed, running a hand through her hair, "Any luck?"

"Haunter! Haunt!" The ghost/poison Pokémon gestured down the corridor to the left and floated on ahead, turning around to see if anyone was following.

Jamie checked her Pokegear and looked at Yami, "It's twenty to."

"I'm not going unless I have news about Joey." Yami shook his head.

"I'm going to check which room they've got Marik in." Jamie nodded, understanding and heading after the ghost.

"Jamie…" Yami called, Jamie turned to look at him, midnight blue eyes watching him carefully. "Be careful."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on fighting him, I just want to know where he is." She replied and disappeared around the corner.

"Attention Duellists," The ship's tannoy went off just moments after she disappeared from sight, "Please report to the top floor of the tower for the next duel of the Semi Final. Yugi Muto will face off against Mr Kaiba, the winner will continue on to the final round."

They all looked at Yami, who, much to their surprise didn't move from his spot against the wall.

"Yugi?" Tea asked, knowing how important this tournament was to the Pharaoh.

"I'm not leaving until I have news about Joey." Yami replied shortly.

"You'll lose if you don't go." Duke warned him.

Yami was aware of this and he wasn't happy about it, but he knew neither he nor Yugi would forgive him if he went to duel and something else happened while they were gone. "It doesn't matter."

Tristan, who was at the turning point of his pacing, growled, stalked over to Yami and proceeded to put him in a head lock.

"Get off." Yami growled, trying to wriggle out of it.

"Tristan!" Tea protested.

"Listen well, because I'm only going to say this once." Tristan growled back, "Go and duel Kaiba."

"What?" Yami's surprised question echoed down the corridor.

"Standing around here and losing by default is pointless. The Doctors can phone the Duel Tower with any information and Joey wouldn't want you to miss an opportunity to put Kaiba in his place. Now get going." Tristan let go and shoved Yami towards the exit.

Still Yami hesitated, though this time it was because Yugi had uncurled himself and stood up, but was looking at the door as if torn in two.

Of course Yugi knew how important this Tournament was to Yami. Marik had been defeated, and Ra no longer belonged to the deranged Tomb Keeper, but that hadn't been the whole reason Yami had entered. The mysteries of his past were supposed to be revealed if Yami won.

But at the same time it was Joey in there, his best friend, and he didn't want to leave until they knew something. He knew Joey would feel the same way about leaving him in some hospital…

"Yugi." Tristan growled, his tone making Yugi look at him, though Tristan was talking to Yami, "Get going now or you'll lose and everything you and Joey went through in Battle City will be pointless."

'_Yugi?'_ Yami asked, turning away from the infirmary.

He sensed Yugi's regret, and then Yugi vanished, re-entering the soul rooms. _"Let's go."_

"I'll try and make it quick." Yami promised.

"Take as long as you need, just don't lose." Tristan snorted back at him.

They left.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"Here?" Jamie asked Haunter, who floated up and down. "You're sure?"

The ghost Pokémon looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Sorry." She apologised, "Thank you Haunter. If you want to return to Bakura now, I won't stop you."

The ghost Pokémon disappeared through a wall to a chorus of screeches, leaving Jamie to go to Yugi's room to check on Kaida on her own and go through everything in her head.

The silence had been oppressive. Even if she hadn't been worried for Joey, she hadn't realised how used she'd gotten to noise and chaos around her. She could see it was going to be a problem when she left.

She snorted, looking towards the infirmary. She hadn't told them yet. They didn't know she was going on a journey, both for work reasons and her own.

She had already come up with a plan for the Day Care. She and Mr Kaiba had come up with it earlier and, other then Aisu, who would go with her, and Iblis, who would stay with Joey, the other Pokémon were going to be guardians of the Centre while she went travelling to find other Pokémon and Trainers who had been displaced like she had been.

She wasn't looking forward to it. Not really.

She slipped into Yugi's room, where Kaida was sleeping peacefully on the bed, some of her health restored, via a ladleful of berries she'd been growing in the Dare Care Centre from the last of her supplies, but still exhausted.

Jamie knew what the Shadow Realm could do to a person, she was just glad that Kaida had been able to help Joey. She just hoped that both Trainer and Pokémon would come out of this experience with no permanent harm done.

"Aiiia?" Kaida asked, sleepily opening her eyes and looking at the Trainer as she sank into the sofa with a bit of a thud.

"It's alright Kaida, go back to sleep. Marik's done, Joey defeated him." Jamie moved over to the bed, stroking the scales along the dragon Pokémon's back. "Joey's being looked after now, by the Doctors. You don't mind if I play Nurse Joy for a while, do you?"

"Draaaiii." Kaida nuzzled her gently and went back to sleep.

Jamie smiled, slightly surprised at the loyalty Joey inspired in the creature he had taken in just a couple of weeks ago. "I reckon your going to evolve while I'm away." She muttered to the sleeping Pokémon, sinking into the sofa again, "If the strength show today is any sign of how strong you've become."

The Dragonair, of course, didn't answer.

"And that's what I've got to do too. Become stronger." She continued, more talking to herself now, rather then talking at Kaida. "If Shadow Magic is so powerful, then there has to be a power out there that can stop Palkia and get me home. There has to be. And Aisu and I, we're going to find it."

She sighed as she realised what she was doing, "Ryou's right, I have gone nuts, but I need to take this chance. I need to see if there's any possibility I can save my world."

She looked out the window, towards the tower where, if she was right, Kaiba was still waiting for Yugi to arrive for his duel, "I need to tell them." She sighed, standing up.

"I just don't know how."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"You made it then, Yugi." Kaiba snorted as Yami finally reached the top of the Duelling tower, just a minute and a half from the designated start time as sunset started to fall over the tower.

"Of course." Yami snorted, not really in the mood for this, but wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.

"You do realise that, as all the other semi-finalists are now unable to Duel, this is the Final battle of Battle City?" Kaiba smirked, "I'm surprised you don't have your fan club with you."

"Joey earned his place in the Battle City finals!" Yami snapped, "You have no right to take that from him!"

"Wheeler is a third rate hack who got lucky. I'll be taking the Winged Dragon of Ra from him soon enough." Kaiba snorted.

Yami's hands balled into fists. He'd had to walk away earlier because he'd wanted to punch Kaiba and now he had to duel him? This wouldn't end well.

"_Calm down."_ Yugi sent down the link, _"Kaiba's trying to bait us. He wants us worked up. He thinks it'll give him an edge."_

Yami wasn't so certain, he wasn't sure that this wasn't just Kaiba being Kaiba. "I think you'll find that Joey's a much better Duellist then the last time you fought him, Kaiba. And he certainly has more friends then you ever had."

Seto snorted, having already heard Yami's friendship speeches. "Spare me the melodrama, Yugi. Are you here to Duel or not?"

"I'll duel." Yami growled, "And once I've defeated you, I'll be fighting Joey in the finals, once he's recovered. I will not let you steal everything he's worked so hard to achieve out from under him, just because..."

"Because he was saving you," Kaiba snorted, activating his Duel Disk and shuffling his deck. "Well, now's the time to see if it was worth it, if you truly value the sacrifice Wheeler made for you, then come and get me, but you'll see that in the end, friendship doesn't matter, only money and power."

"I'll prove you wrong, Kaiba." Yami snapped, activating his Duel Disk before shuffling his deck and putting it in the deck slot. "You'll see. All the money in the world won't stop me defeating you."

The two drew their first five cards in sync, checked their hands in sync and at exactly the same moment, the voices of the two, who had been rivals since the time of the Egyptians, called out.

"Let's Duel!"

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author Note: - Good things and bad. Poor Joey and poor Kaida. Can't feel sorry for Yami Marik though. *insert unprintable words here* **


	19. Last Chance

Team Galactic Administrator Mercury was in a good mood.

With the Master Ball located, if not in their hands, she'd been able to free up her grunts to once more work on securing the country. She'd already had reports back from Germany about the successful occupation of a company called Schroeder, and she herself had almost acquired a controlling share of several American and German arms manufacturers.

Iszmash was proving more difficult.

On the other hand, she had been practicing for her duel against the runner up. Precedent showed that people who opposed Yugi Mutou first had to face Joey Wheeler... and usually ground him into the dust on their way to inevitable defeat. Fortunately for Mercury, she had no desire to face the King of Games.

For now, however, the simple pleasures of a smoothly running operation, and an eighteen by eighteen grid with two mines remaining.

The intercom on her desk chimed, prompting her to pause the game and take her feet off the desk in order to lean forward and press the PTT to reply.

"Yes?" She asked, calmly.

"Grunt Miko's here to see you, ma'am." Her secretary, a local girl called Himei, told her.

"Send her in. Thanks." Mercury replied, before minimising the game and sitting back with her hands folded in her lap. A few moments later, the door opened to admit the small figure of her youngest agent, a glasses-wearing girl from Goldenrod named Nanoha Miko.

"I've got it, Mercury-sama!" Miko told her, happily, darting forward to place a deck box on the desk. "The individual cards might not be powerful... but when you make them work together properly, they can destroy the most powerful of monsters."

"What's this..?" Mercury wondered, quietly, lifting the box and flipping it open to check through the cards. "Hmm... ohh, that's adorable." She grinned, before glancing up at Miko. "So this deck will let me beat Joey Wheeler?"

"It should." Miko nodded. "Most of his deck is built around big monsters... he'll never see it coming. These are the key cards." She took the deck back for a moment, flipping through it before showing them to Mercury – a trap and a spell.

"Huh... interesting." She smiled.

"Just watch out for Jinzo." Miko told her. "Oh... I've acquired an opponent for you to test the deck against. He's a real creep, so don't feel guilty."

"You fought him?" Mercury glanced at her junior.

"Yes. Well... kind of. He was picking on some of the other Battle City drop-outs with an insect deck..." Miko frowned, angrily. "Giving us bug-users a bad name... I had Kiman humiliate him."

"Well done." The Administrator smiled at her. "In the New World, there won't be space for trash like him... but at least here he can be put to some good."

Miko just nodded, mutely, before showing her mistress to the duelling arena where the duellist was being held.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Yami sighed as he stepped out of the lift, heading down to the blimp, hoping that there was news.

They'd tried to keep their minds off of it during the duel and while they hadn't been completely successful (having come far too close to losing for Yami's liking before they'd finally got into gear), they had managed to win with a last minute turn about, using their Dark Paladin to destroy Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragons, with a little help from the Red Eyes Black Dragon that Joey had let him keep after he'd won it back from the Rare Hunter that had taken it from Joey in the first place.

But now the duel was over, the worry was sinking in again and they wanted to get back as soon as possible.

"Yugi."

Yami jumped and wheeled around, to find Tristan had been waiting for him by the tower's exit. "How's...?"

"Stable." Tristan nodded, knowing what Yami was trying to ask, "The Doc thinks he's going to be okay. The blimp's busted so they're going to take us in the air ambulance."

Relief coursed through Yami and the Pharaoh sensed the same emotion coming from his hikari. "Thank the Gods." Yami murmured.

"How'd you do?" Tristan asked, watching the tension slide from his friend, "You did win?"

"Of course." Yami snorted, not going to admit how close it had been.

"Not that there was any doubt." Tristan agreed, "But Joey said he'd be pissed if he had to fight Kaiba in the finals."

"Joey said?" Yugi seized control without thinking, apologising belatedly to Yami for doing so, "He's awake?"

"Uh huh. Woke up about ten minutes ago." Tristan replied, smiling slightly at Yugi's enthusiasm, "Come on, I'll take you to the helicopter."

They were halfway down to the copter when Yugi paused in his tracks, making Tristan stop and give him a worried look. "What?"

"Marik's not taking the same helicopter, is he?" Yugi asked, biting his lower lip, not able to see them getting back without incident if he was.

"No." Tristan reassured him, ushering his friend down the path, "His copter already left. Mokuba called for two. I guess he didn't trust Marik not to try something."

Yugi nodded, sensing Yami's agreement at the statement, the Pharaoh wouldn't have trusted Marik either.

"What about the staff?" Yugi asked, concerned, "Are the helicopters big enough for everyone?"

"There weren't as many people aboard as we thought," Tristan snorted, "Between the two copters, everyone's evacuating safely."

"Good." Yugi nodded, wondering where Kaiba and Mokuba were as they reached the helicopter.

The pilots were impatient. They had orders to leave as quickly as possible and they had a patient onboard that they wanted to deliver to the hospital asap, so they hadn't been happy to wait for the last few people to arrive, and, the hatch had barely shut behind the pair of them before the chopper took to the air.

"Hey, Yuge." A weak voice called. Yugi froze up for a moment before turning around to find Joey waving at him.

"Joey, hey." Yugi smiled, trying to hide the guilt that coursed through him when he saw the state his friend was in. "How're you feeling?"

"Been better, been worse." Joey shrugged and winced as the movement aggravated his wound. Yugi's real emotions flashed across his face for a moment, and he shoved them back as quickly as he could, but Joey had already caught them and was now frowning. "Yuge..."

"I'm ok." Yugi lied, sitting down and looking out the window, still trying to figure out what exactly Kaiba was planning, how the CEO and his little brother were getting off of the island.

"Yugi..." Joey's call was sharper, concern obvious, but what he was about to say disappeared in the sounds of an explosion.

Yugi shot to his feet and turned to look out the window properly.

"What Yuge?" Joey demanded as everyone who was able rushed over to a window.

"The island!" Tea yelped, "It just..."

"Blew up..." The same woman from the kitchens, the one who had yelled at Jamie, whispered.

"What?" Joey demanded, trying to sit up properly to see for himself, only to let out a pained whimper and lie back, his sister hovering nervously.

"It's gone." Tristan was shocked.

"Mr Kaiba..." Roland, who had somehow managed to beat them to the helicopter, though Yugi didn't know how, let out a soft whisper, "Mr Mokuba..."

"They can't be gone." Yugi couldn't, wouldn't believe it. There was no way Kaiba would have killed himself over a Duel... was there? Even if Yugi could believe it of Kaiba, there was no way he would have taken Mokuba down with him...

"Yugi, look!" Tea pointed out the window by her.

Yugi darted over, looking out in time to see a white dragon rising from smoke.

"Blue Eyes?" One of the staff yelped.

"It's a Blue Eyes plane!" Someone else shouted, shocked.

And now Yugi knew where Seto and Mokuba were, his suspicions were confirmed when the jet drew even with their helicopter and Mokuba waved at him cheekily.

Then the pair were gone.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Mercury smirked. Weevil was gloating. In the short time she'd known him; the bug user – despite a superficial resemblance to her own minion – had quickly grown to earn her loathing and disgust. He seemed to think he'd won – Insect Queen, a swarm of icky little eggs, and DNA Surgery all active facing off against her two adorable little monsters and single two face-down cards.

"Just get on with it." She sighed in mock annoyance. "Then you can go."

"Of course." Weevil cackled. "But I can't blame you for going to all this trouble just to face me! I'm an important Dueling champion after all!"

"He really is an idiot..." Mercury muttered to Miko, who was standing just behind her and to the left on the dueling platform. Weevil finally started to call his attack when the arena door banged open.

"What are you doing? You can't... oh!" One of the grunts guarding the door started, then trailed off. "Administrator Mars!"

"What?" Mercury started, looking away. Her distraction cost her the duel as she didn't activate the trap, but it was only a practice anyway and the safeties were turned to maximum. "Mars! What are you doing here?" She asked the older woman, worried. Was she being replaced?

"Fixing your mistakes." Mars told her as she swept into the room.

"I win, so I'll be going now." Weevil smirked, stepping off the arena pulpit and heading for the door.

"A.C." Mars gestured, and one of the six trainers following her casually threw a hand into the air, span an index finger in a little circle to call a spark then tossed it at Weevil. The spark expanded into a lightning bolt, which struck the green-haired duellist in the chest and blasted him back into the wall where he slid down to the floor and lay in a crumpled heap. Miko couldn't tell if he was breathing or not.

"Mistakes?" Mercury asked, wincing slightly. "I'm doing just fine here." She didn't step down from her own pulpit, knowing that Mars would use her height and comparatively larger frame to intimidate the smaller woman if she could.

"That's why Dialga is in the hands of our enemies, hmm?" Mars snorted. "Oh, Miko. I had wondered where you'd gotten to. I'm afraid your old friend Phobos had a bit of an accident... maybe you'd like to come work for the new model?" She smirked at the bug trainer, who glanced between Mars and her minions with real fear. She'd met the domineering woman only a couple of times before, and been just as terrified then. "Snow?"

"Heh." The blonde smirked. "Yeah. I'm Sub-administrator Phobos. Want to come back and work for a real trainer?"

"Why, you..." Mercury ground out through gritted teeth, shadow aura coalescing around her as her emotions darkened.

"Huh." Mars muttered, watching. "Files didn't say anything about you being positive..."

"Mercury-sama is a skilled trainer and a shadow mage!" Miko stammered, moving to stand next to her. "W-we have a plan, e-everything is in place, s-so..."

"Tchi. Like I care." Mars snorted. "As of now, all of Mercury's holdings are being transferred into my name. Administrator Mercury, these orders came from Cyrus himself." She strode forward and presented the blue-haired administrator with a sealed envelope. Mercury passed it to Miko, who opened the envelope with shaking hands as she tried to control her fear.

"Read it." Mars ordered her while Mercury fumed, shadows darkening. As a response, the one called A.C. lit up with a soft glow and the hum of charging electricity.

"C-commander Mercury..." Miko began reading. Had her mistress been demoted? "You are hereby reassigned. Report immediately to P-paradias headquarters for duties as... as Liason and to direct our forces p-personally. Administrator Mars will relieve you of o-over all command of Other World operations..." She paused. "That's all. It's s-signed Cyrus." She told Mercury, looking up from the paper of the sealed orders.

"Huh. Looks like you've got somewhere else to be. Run along, little girl." Mars smirked, and her trainers stepped aside to make a route for Mercury to leave. Miko made to follow her, but was stopped as Snow put out an arm to block her.

"Seriously, kid." Snow murmured. "Merc's on a sinking ship. You should jump."

"I d-don't betray my f-friends..." Miko replied, just as quietly. "Infiltrator Snow."

The ice-type dropped her arm, glaring daggers at the bug-user's back as the smaller girl quick-stepped to catch up with Mercury, much to her superior, Deimos' – also known as Flame – amusement.

"Mercury-sama..?" Miko asked, catching up outside and presenting her with the duel deck and Weevil's disk, which she'd worked so hard to retrieve.

"What is it, Miko?" The blue-haired girl asked, a little more forcefully than she'd intended.

"T-the deck..." She offered it to her mistress, timidly.

"What's the point?" Mercury scowled. "It's Mars' job now. Who the hell does she think she is, marching in and taking over like that, with her little team of genetic freaks?"

"Y-you mean... they were all PKNE-positive..?" Miko asked, eyes going wide. "Is that why... that A.C. could throw lightning..?"

"Yeah." Mercury made a derisive noise. "Just human-shaped Pokémon who think they're so much better than everyone else. Like that Francis witch. Prancing around pretending to be a hero just because she feels the cold a little bit and breathes underwater." The blue-haired woman sounded bitter and older than her twenty-two years should allow.

"B-but with the magic you've learned... and your skills... you're a match for any of them." Miko tried to placate her. "The power of the stone..."

"It's just a rock!" Mercury snarled at her, stopping to glare. "Don't you get it? Paradius gave me power, now I'm being sent back as a sacrifice to placate them before they decide they don't need our help to break this world apart!" She held her stance for a moment, making Miko cringe, before relenting. "I'm sorry, Miko-chan. I shouldn't take it out on you... you've been nothing but loyal to me since you were transferred..."

"It's okay, Mercury-sama..." Miko smiled back, feeling a pang inside. If Mercury knew... "I won't abandon you." She paused. "There is... more news. I didn't tell you yet because I wanted your mind to be clear during practice... and Mars doesn't know."

"What?" Mercury looked at her, confused.

"Two KC helicopters left a few minutes before I brought you the deck. One of them was carrying a mechanic from the aviations department... the competitors for the Battle city tournament should be returning soon, and they'll be heading straight for Kaiba Corp."

"I see..." Mercury frowned. "If I get Dialga first..."

"They won't be able to push you aside." She nods. "We should set a trap."

"Alright." Mercury nodded. "One last try... we'll show the others what Mercury can do. I'm not out yet."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"What's going on?" Joey demanded, having missed what everyone else had seen.

"Seto has a Blue Eyes White Dragon plane." Tristan snorted. "He decided to take that instead."

"Trust Kaiba." Joey snorted, "He's obsessed with that dragon."

"Like you're much better about Red Eyes." Tea chuckled.

Yugi paused and unhitched his deck from its holder, sorting through until he found the card he was looking for. "Speaking of," Yugi said, offering the card to Joey, "I think this belongs to you."

Joey's eyes widened, having temporarily forgotten about the card. "Did it help?" He asked, reaching for his own cards, picking the bottom card up, thinking.

"Couldn't have beaten Kaiba without it." Yugi smiled, "I owe you one."

"Heh." Joey looked pleased, "I was sleeping, but my card wasn't." He grinned. "I'll do you a trade, Yuge." He offered the card in his hand.

Yugi's eyes widened when he saw what it was. "You serious?" Yugi whispered, stunned.

"I'd much rather have Red Eyes then this." Joey shrugged, having been given The Winged Dragon of Ra by one of the security guards who had apparently confiscated it from Marik, "At least Red Eyes likes me. I can't even use Ra." Joey smirked, "Not that this means I'm not going to crush you, next time we duel."

"We still have the finals to play." Yami took over for just a moment, to smirk back at his friend.

"Perhaps I should hold onto this then," Joey took his offering back, only slightly, grinning to show he was joking, "So you can't use it against me."

"A deal perhaps?" Yami suggested, "I won't use Ra, if you don't use Red Eyes."

"That's not fair Yuge!" Tristan protested, "You know he needs Red Eyes to beat you!"

"You saying I can't do it on my own?" Joey demanded, looking put out.

"I'm saying you need every trick you can get." Tristan snorted.

"I can beat Yuge, even without Red Eyes!" Joey protested.

"_Thanks Yami."_ Yugi murmured down the link, grateful Joey had been distracted as the debate grew in volume; right up until the paramedic who was riding in the back demanded that it stopped, for her patient's wellbeing.

'_As much as I hate to admit it, Kaiba did most of the distracting.'_ Yami snorted. He sensed amusement from his hikari, who knew that Yami hated being outdone by anyone, even in things like this.

"I'll take your deal, Yuge." Joey nodded at the Pharaoh, "I won't use Red Eyes, if you don't use Ra."

They traded cards, Red Eyes returning to his rightful owner and Ra joining the other two Gods who now rested within Yugi's deck.

With the return of his dragon, Joey felt relief course through him. It felt like it was over, all over, finally and he couldn't understand why.

Marik was still out there, still after Yugi, and, though the Rod had been blown up with the island, at least so they believed, he wouldn't be surprised if there was another power out there that Marik could use to harm his friend, so why, with the return of Red Eyes, did it feel like it was over, at least this part was, there would be other battles in the future.

Speaking of battles, he looked over to where Yugi was very deliberately not looking in his direction. "Yuge..."

"Guys, I need to tell you something, and you're not going to like it." Jamie started speaking at the same moment Joey did, her voice loud enough to override his.

As concerned as he was for the Trainer, Joey let out a frustrated snort, wondering if events were conspiring against him getting to talk properly to Yugi.

"What?" Tristan frowned, "What's wrong?"

"It's not that I don't like you guys," Jamie sighed, "And it's not that I'm not grateful for everything you've done for me, Yugi..."

"What?" Now Tristan's tone took on a hint of warning, making Jamie giggle slightly internally.

"_He thinks I'm going to attack them or something."_ She sent to Bakura, then remembered that she'd returned the Ring to Ryou and glanced at the Tomb Robber before she answered. "I'm leaving."

"Ha, good joke." Joey snorted, then looked at her properly, "You serious?"

"Why?" Tea asked, confused.

"I found out there are other people, other Pokémon, who have been sent here by Galactic and they're scared, confused and alone." Jamie explained. "Whole cites have been ruined, and they've needed help and I've been living in Domino happily while others from my world have been suffering." She looked like she was kicking herself, "I have to go. I have to help them."

"I understand." Yugi nodded.

She smiled slightly. She could imagine Yugi doing the same in her position.

"Isn't there someone else who could go?" Tea asked.

"No. It has to be me. I'm the only Pokémon Trainer who has high level connections in this world. There's no one else."

"Who's going with you?" Tristan asked, worried for his friend.

"No one. Just me and Aisu."

"Just... what about your other Pokémon?" Joey demanded.

"Actually that's where I need to ask you a favour, Joey." Jamie smiled slightly, though she looked slightly depressed, as she unclipped a Pokeball and looked at it intently, "I was hoping, since you did so well with Kaida, you'd be willing to look after Iblis for me."

"You want me to look after your Charizard?" Joey asked, staring at the ball in her hand, shocked.

"I don't trust people with my Pokémon easily." Jamie told him, "I've raised them all from a low level, worked hard with them, and I have no choice but to leave them behind to protect the Day Care Centre, but I want to leave Iblis with you. He's temperamental and doesn't trust people easily but he likes you, so I was hoping... since you're good with Pokémon and you work at the Day Care six days a week..." She offered the Pokeball.

"I'd be honoured." Joey nodded slowly, taking the offer, staring at the Pokeball, "If you're sure."

"I am."

"Jamie, you can't be serious." Tea protested, concerned, "You want to leave? On your own? Without anyone to help you? You don't know this world; you don't know the people, or the cultures or the languages..."

"I'm heading to Tokyo," Mai interrupted, speaking up for the first time since the helicopter had taken off and looking the Trainer in the eyes. "I'll take you as far as that."

"What?" Jamie's eyes went huge and she stared at Mai in shock, as if the thought of someone coming with her had never occurred to her.

"I'll go with you as far as Tokyo." Mai offered. "If you're willing to put up with me."

"You sure? I mean, it's not exactly easy travelling my way." Jamie asked once Mai's offer had sunk in, more than willing to have company but certain, from what she had seen of those from this world, they wouldn't be willing to travel the way she travelled, on foot at all times, and, considering the layout of the rifts that had been mapped by Kaiba Corp's satellites, it wasn't just going to be a walk in the park to find some of the areas between here and Tokyo. "And your car..."

"It's a rental, I could just put it into the local outlet and they'd return it to the right depo." Mai shrugged, "And I can get my own supplies."

Jamie nodded, thinking it over, "You'd need a Pokémon. It's not safe to approach wild ones who are confused or hurt without one and I wouldn't recommend travelling without protection anyway."

"Couldn't I borrow one of yours?" Mai asked.

"No, but..."A thought struck Jamie and she pulled two Pokeballs out of her bag, looking over at Bakura and wondering why she hadn't asked before, "What were in those Pokeballs you gave me yesterday?" She asked the Tomb Robber, who tried to think. Yesterday seemed like an eternity ago now.

"Staravia and Seviper." He replied.

"A what and a what?" Tea asked.

"Staravia," Jamie hitched her Pokedex out of her pocket and called it up on screen, letting everyone look before changing the picture, "And Seviper." She passed it around again.

"Can I meet Staravia?" Mai asked, quite taken with the bird she'd seen on screen.

Jamie nodded, "I'll introduce you at the Day Care Centre, when I drop off my team. If you and Staravia don't get on and you really want a bird Pokémon, there are other flyers there. Pidgeotto or Alteria might like you instead."

"Won't Kaiba mind if you take Pokémon from the Day Care Centre without his permission?" Tristan snorted.

"He keeps telling me they're my Pokémon." Jamie shook her head, "If they're mine, I can lend them to a friend if I want."

Yugi couldn't help wondering if it worked like that, while Yami snorted his amusement at her complete disregard for Kaiba's authority.

"When are you going to leave?" Tea asked quietly, glad Mai was going with Jamie as far as Tokyo, but wishing Jamie wasn't leaving at all.

Jamie looked at Mai, having planned on leaving first thing in the morning, but not used to having to plan for someone else. "Tomorrow morning?" She asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon." Mai shook her head, "I want to pick up some stuff before we leave and no offence but I want my own sleeping bag."

Jamie grinned slightly, "Fair enough."

"I take it this means you need the stuff you've been hiding at mine?" Bakura asked, watching events unfold and earning himself a glower from Jamie and Jamie a glower from Tristan.

"What stuff?" The teen demanded.

"I love the fact that I've lived with Yugi for the last few months and now, because I have a few secrets you think I'm going to endanger someone." Jamie's midnight blue eyes flashed angrily, "If you have to know, I've been buying new camping equipment, but there wasn't enough room to store it all at the Game Shop so I asked 'Kura to look after it for me." She said, glaring at the brunette who backed down with an apology, then she turned to Bakura, "And yes, if you don't mind."

He did, but since he wanted her as far away from the danger he could cause as possible, he shook his head, "Not a problem."

"Thanks." Jamie nodded.

"Where are you staying tonight, Mai?" Tea asked softly, breaking the mood that had been rising.

"I have a hotel booked." Mai lied, though she could get one easily enough. She was kind of surprised at herself, actually. Surprised that she had wanted to get away from those who had called themselves her friends as quickly as she could, even the one who had risked his life to save hers, and yet she had jumped at the chance to go with a complete stranger on a dangerous journey that would take her away from big cities and Duel Monsters tournaments... "Thanks for the offer though."

"Any time." Tea nodded.

Mai moved over to sit beside Jamie and the Jamie pulled out a sheaf of print outs she had in her backpack, showing Mai where they'd need to go and estimating how much time it would take to get from Domino to Tokyo on foot. It wasn't going to be a quick journey by any stretch of the imagination.

Listening to them chatter got them through the journey, though Joey, who still hadn't gotten to talk to Yugi, fell asleep as Jamie mentioned somewhere and Mai mentioned she'd heard rumour about horse spirits whose manes and tails were on fire living there, getting Jamie excited about something called Ponyta, and didn't wake up until the helicopter was hit by something and everyone either held on tightly or fell on the floor.

"This is the pilot speaking." He sounded nervous over the loudspeaker system installed in the huge air ambulance, "We seem to have a problem..."

"Jamie!" Serenity pointed out her window.

"Galactic!" Jamie swore and demanded everyone hold on tight, before hitting the ramp release button.

It opened slowly and before it was halfway there Jamie had turned to Joey and asked if she could borrow Iblis. Joey nodded and given her the Pokeball back. Then the Trainer had sent out the Charizard, climbed on his back and dropped out the door, just escaping the helicopter before it was hit again.

Serenity watched out the window as Jamie scared off one lot of grunts, only for another to fly alongside the chopper and demand it land.

"It's not Jamie they're after." Bakura muttered, scowling as the helicopter started to descend onto the concrete of Domino's harbour.

"But who else could they want?" Serenity asked, worried as they touched down.

Her question was answered a moment later as three grunts boarded, backed up by impressive looking Pokémon.

"We're looking for Joey Wheeler." One of them growled.

"I'm Joey." Tristan stepped forward as Yami took over and got between the grunts and the real Joey, who tried to speak up but was silenced by a glare from the Pharaoh, "What do you want?"

"Our boss wants to speak with you." Another answered, "You see, you have something that belongs to us."

"I don't think so." Tristan snorted, "Even if I did have something belonging to you, I wouldn't speak with your boss. Now I suggest you leave."

"You will come with us." The last grunt growled, "Our boss doesn't take no for an answer."

"What does your boss want?" Yami demanded, buying time for Jamie, as Tristan glanced quickly at Joey who was trying to sit up and reach for his Pokeballs, which were in the bag next to his.

"Your friend has a rather rare Pokémon that belongs to Team Galactic." The first grunt snorted, "We want it back."

"Flygon! Haunter!" Bakura sent out his two Pokémon, not to protect Joey but to cause enough chaos for someone to slip away with Dialga.

He'd been in Jamie's head, he knew what legend stated Dialga could do, had seen the temporal Pokémon in action, and it was for Jamie's sake that he and his Pokémon backed the grunts out of the helicopter, unwilling to let them take the key to destroying her world forever.

Something red and metallic and vaguely bug like darted into the helicopter, seized Serenity and darted back out again.

"No!" Joey bellowed, forcing himself onto his feet and seizing his Duel Disk and Pokeballs, before rushing out after his sister.

"Shit." Tristan darted out after him, knowing full damn well that Joey wouldn't be rational if Galactic had Serenity and that Joey was in fit state to fight anyone, Yami close behind.

A huge red Pokémon with massive claws held Serenity tightly, threatening to strike.

"I see Scizor was a better motivator then those grunts." A woman laughed as she stepped out of the shadows.

The grunts in question were busy with the Tomb Robber's Pokémon.

"Get your bug to let go of my sister." Joey growled, reaching for Kaida's ball, then remembering that the Dragonair was still exhausted from their earlier Shadow Game.

"Who are you?" Tristan took command again, trying to keep the bad guys attention on him.

"I am Galactic Admin Mercury." The woman snorted, "And Wheeler has my Pokémon. Once it's returned, your sister will go free."

"I'm Wheeler." Tristan and Joey said at the same time.

"You can't both be Wheeler." Mercury snorted, "Scizor?"

The Pokémon tightened his grip and Serenity let out a pained squeak.

"I'm Joey Wheeler!" Joey shoved past Tristan, adrenaline pushing him far beyond the pain, though it would catch up with him quickly, "Let my sister go, you bitch."

"I've heard you like playing games with lives on the line." Mercury snorted. "So Duel me."

"Duel you?" Joey snarled, "I'll tear you limb from limb if you hurt my sister."

"You win, I'll let your sister go and you won't see me again. You lose, I'm taking Dialga and..."

"Joey no..." Serenity shook her head, knowing how injured her brother was.

"No choice, Serenity." Joey growled, shuffling his deck and about to put his Duel Disk on when Yami grabbed his arm.

"Let me do it."

"It's my sister, Yuge." Joey snapped.

"Wheeler must duel, no one else." Mercury sniggered at them. "Especially not the King of Games. Do you really think I'm that stupid? We know who you are, Yugi Mutou. Now back away and let your friend duel. Or else."

"Yuge..." Joey growled.

Yami backed off slightly.

"Let me stand in." Tristan spoke up, catching Mercury's attention, "I can't duel my way out of a paper bag so I'm no threat on my own. Joey can duel by proxy, by telling me what to do. He can't duel you as he is."

"Tristan." Joey growled, just wanting to get it over with so he could save his sister.

"No. Wheeler only." Mercury snorted. "How many times do I have to repeat it?"

"Fine." Joey growled, activating his disk. "You're going down."

Mercury smirked. She would prove to Cyrus that it was her that was worthy of being Dialga's Master, not that cow, Mars, who had been sent to replace her and she would do so by crushing the teen, who currently held the Pokémon, at his own game.

"It's time to Duel."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

They weren't after her.

It didn't compute in Jamie's mind.

From the moment she'd fallen into this world she'd been hunted down by Team Galactic and now they had her at a disadvantage and they weren't interested in more than keeping her away from the helicopter?

What was so important about...?

No... no, No, NO!

How could they know?

No one knew Joey had Dialga except those who had been on the island!

"IBLIS," She demanded, risking everything on this one move, one she'd never used when she'd been riding her Charizard before because of the danger to herself, "BLAST BURN!"

The Charizard attacked, firing a ball of fire out which exploded outwards, not affecting Iblis but knocking out all the Pokémon surrounding it, the shockwave sending Jamie tumbling from his back, unconscious.

"ZAAARD!" Iblis, who couldn't do more than glide thanks to the energy it had expended, let out a terrified bellow, knowing it would be unable to reach her in time.

"FLYYY!" Flygon darted under the falling Trainer, flying upside down in order to catch her in its arms, before dropping her by his Trainer and going to the Fire/Flying type's aid, helping it get rid of those who had used its temporary weakness to try and knock it from the sky.

Haunter, who was using the night to its full advantage, defeated the grunts that had been aboard the blimp, and was about to start on the nearby Grunts in the air, when spirit shadow, his 'Trainer', who was carrying the fallen Gym Leader, asked him to 'distract' Scizor.

Haunter liked when spirit shadow asked him to 'distract' someone. They'd done it before, when they'd stolen those Pokémon from the other Trainers and it basically consisted of aggravating the person in question until they dropped everything and chased after him.

And it would be even more of a challenge because it was a bug Pokémon he was supposed to be distracting and it would have lots of attacks that could be fun to fight against.

"Haunt." The ghost nodded and disappeared into the darkness.

"Let me take her." Someone grasped his shoulder and he wheeled around, glowering, only to find that it was the pilot from the helicopter. "If you're a Monster Tamer, then you need to fight. I'll look after her." He indicated Jamie.

"Stay close. I don't want her out of my sight." Bakura growled, noting that Iblis and Flygon were clearing last of the flyers and there were only a few left, hovering around their boss, who had taken Joey's sister hostage (in what had probably been a stroke of sheer dumb luck since barely anyone even knew that Wheeler had a sister) and was, for some unknown reason, duelling against Joey.

Bakura wasn't stupid. He knew how injured Joey was.

He also knew the teen was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he didn't duel, Mercury would kill his sister unless he gave them Dialga.

He duelled and he lost, he would have to give up the Lord of Time and not only his sister, but Jamie's entire world and maybe this one too, would be destroyed.

He duelled and won, there was no guarantee that Mercury would free his sister.

Jamie would have done anything in her power to help her friend, but she was unconscious...

Bakura didn't want Dialga to fall into the hands of Galactic because of how much it would hurt Jamie and how much it would interfere with his own plans, but did he really want to get involved in the fight of one of the Pharaoh's bodyguards...?

"JOEY!" Serenity screamed.

Joey fell to his knees as Mercury's cute monsters bypassed his Jinzo and struck him directly.

The Pharaoh darted to Joey's side, helping him to his feet, the blonde leaning heavily on the much smaller teen, who shook slightly with the effort of holding his friend up.

Everyone was so focused on that, that they missed the fact Scizor shook his head irritably, snapping at something in the air around it.

Haunter was doing his job...

"He shouldn't be duelling..." The pilot who was carrying Jamie complained.

"It's his sister." Bakura disagreed, old pain striking his heart, "He should fight until his last breath."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"I've got you Joey." Yugi murmured.

Joey could feel his friend shaking, his weight almost more than Yugi's slight frame could handle, but after that last attack, he was beginning to feel light headed again and he needed all the support he could get.

He felt Yugi's height shift and heard Yami hiss.

"End it fast Joey." The Pharaoh actually sounded scared. In any other situation, knowing that Yami was scared would have freaked him out, but he couldn't get any more freaked out then he was now.

When it had been his life on the line, he had been willing to fight to the death to stop anyone else getting hurt.

When it had been Yugi's life on the line, he had been able to come up with a last minute solution and save his friend, twice.

But when it was his sister's life on the line, he was scared, because the consequences seemed far too real, far too terrifying...

"Joey..." Serenity whimpered.

Joey drew, frowning as Scizor snapped at something again. It had been doing that a lot during the Duel. "Mercury, it's over." He managed to call, "I activate De-Spell, destroying your Heart of Clear Water leaving your monster wide open for..."

He indicated his Jinzo who, without a real order from Joey, struck down Mercury's Princess, destroying her life points.

"I win. Now free my sister." Joey growled.

"Not until you give me Dialga!"

"Haunter! Now!" Bakura ordered.

Haunter struck the bug/steel type with something that peed it off and it let go of Serenity to chase after the ghost/poison type.

"Joey!" Serenity darted to her brother's side.

"NO! NO!" Mercury screeched, lunging forwards, going for Joey. "GIVE IT TO ME! IT'S MINE!"

Yami shoved Joey towards Tristan, protecting his friend, before instinctively lashing out with his magic, sending Mercury sprawling.

He watched her get to her feet, waiting to see what her next plan of attack was.

"Yuge, behind you!"

Yami wheeled around to find himself face to face with Scizor, who looked rather pissed off and took a swipe at him with one of its huge claws.

"Staravia!"

The large brown bird Pokémon swooped past with glowing wings, bashing into Scizor and knocking it back about five foot.

Yami, having been caught by surprise by both Scizor and the save, looked at the person who'd ordered the attack and had another surprise thrown on his when he saw that, instead of the Pokémon Trainer he'd expected, the one holding the Pokeball was none other then Mai, who had surprised herself by using the ball she'd seen fall out of Jamie's pocket when she'd been demanded Iblis back from Joey.

Scizor attacked the bird with Metal Claw. Staravia narrowly avoided it and glanced at Mai, waiting for orders.

"Attack?" Mai asked, rather then commanded, but Staravia shot forward, raking at the Bug/Steel type with its sharp talons as Yami turned back to Mercury who looked like she'd lost the plot completely and was sending out her entire team to fight them.

They needed Jamie…

"Dialga, come out!" Joey's voice cut over the noise of the Pokémon and the red light that deposited the huge Time Pokémon above them, one of its legs crushing a nearby warehouse, made everyone and everything stop and look.

"That Pokémon is mine!" Mercury snarled, "And I will take it by force if I have to! Everyone, attack!"

"Roar of Time."

Dialga bellowed and once again Joey and his Pokémon disappeared, this time just taking the enemy's Pokémon with them, including those of the Grunts that were still fighting Iblis and Flygon (though there weren't many now). Then they were back and Mercury's team weren't, leaving the admin all alone.

"No… it can't be over! I won't let her take my future away from me!" Mercury protested, "I won't!" She went to dart past Yami and attack Joey, who had returned from the past unconscious.

"Tristan, get him to hospital!" Yami demanded, seeing what she was planning and preventing it in the only way he could think of.

Darkness swarmed, surrounding Yami and pulling Mercury in as she tried to dart past the Pharaoh.

Then the bubble closed trapping Yami and Mercury inside.

"What did he do?" Mai demanded of Tristan, who looked a little pale and was busy tending to Joey, who was once again in desperate need of medical attention, which was, thankfully about to be provided by the chopper crew who rushed Joey, Serenity, who refused to be parted from her brother, and Jamie, who was still out cold from the blast, to hospital and left the rest of them there. "Tristan!"

"Yugi's used the only card he had left to defend us." Tristan answered slowly. "He's pulled Mercury into a Shadow Game."

Mai froze, remembering her own Shadow Game and the Penalty for losing. "He wouldn't…" It was Yugi. He wouldn't do that to someone, he couldn't, surely….

"There was no choice Mai." Tristan sounded a little frosty, "If you didn't notice," He recalled Dialga to its ball and sat down, waiting for the bubble to disappear, "She wasn't going to give up. Now only one of them is coming back safely." Tea sat down beside him, "Yugi's risking his own soul to protect us, Mai, and I, for one, appreciate it."

"But…" The Shadow Realm? Wasn't there another way?

"If you don't agree with me, then go. We'll see you off tomorrow, if Jamie's alright to travel." Tristan snorted dismissively.

"Valentine." Mai was about to leave, as she obviously wasn't wanted here by Tristan or Tea, who were just waiting for Yugi's return, when Bakura of all people called her name. She turned to glower at him, only to find him bowing his head submissively, "If I might ask for a lift to the hospital…?"

She nodded shortly and the pair of them left, leaving the two teenagers alone to wait for the return of their friend.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author Note: - One more chapter to go. Now I feel like I'm being mean to lots of people. Thanks owed to Ray Venn Hakubi for the Mercury and Mars bits, except for the battle at the end. **


	20. Starting Again

Oracle was the quiet one out of Mars' band of trainers.

Small and mousey looking, the tiny brunette was often over looked, which was understandable when you considered Flame's considerable size or Snow's stunning beauty, but she was considered by her team mates, well, except Spectre, who was an opposing type to her, to be the strongest of them.

The young Psychic type Positive Trainer, who had been rescued by Mars from the Labs of Team Cypher, was almost unquestionably loyal to her leader and the others in her team, who had managed to get her out of the heavily fortified labs, helped her Awaken and allowed her to train a squad of Pokémon that would protect her from anyone or anything.

So when she checked the computers, only to find that they had been wiped clean of all data, she didn't stop at just calling Snow, who was much better with finding back doors into computers then she was. She checked the security tapes, examined every face that had left the compound and went to ask Mars for permission to 'speak' with the Grunts who remained in the city.

Mars, who was fuming that her predecessor had had the audacity to wipe the computers, sent her off, with Venom, a rather vicious purple haired young woman who was looking forward to 'playing' with someone who she didn't have to be careful around.

Just the two of them against a group of fifteen to twenty grunts.

Oracle felt sorry for Mercury's men.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"The Shadow Realm?" Mercury asked, looking around at the darkness, having already tried the walking away method and having ended up back in the same place as she'd started.

"You threatened my friend's life, endangered his sister," Yami's tone was dark and dangerous. Yugi had backed off, not closing the door completely, in case something went wrong, but allowing Yami a free run, not really wanting to be part of this, but understanding that this was the only way they had to protect Joey, "For that I challenge you to a Shadow Game."

Mercury stared at him, then she let out a bark of laughter. "You? Challenge me? You don't play my game, oh King." The last was said as an insult, "So how will you play me in a fair game, if I don't play your game and, even if I had my Pokémon, you don't play mine?"

'_How does she know it's supposed to be fair__..._?' Yami wondered to himself. They needed to get a Pokémon in case something like this came up again, but for now, Yami needed to challenge her to something and he had an idea.

"You want power?" Yami pushed, "If I lose, you can take my Puzzle. It will be yours, legitimately, and its powers will be yours to control."

Mercury paused and considered him, looking interested, "What about Dialga?"

"I can't speak for Joey. He won't surrender Dialga because I lost."

"But with your power, combined with my own..." Mercury looked thoughtful for just a moment, "Go on then, if you think you have a fair game ready, I'll play."

"One minute, I haven't said what will happen if I win." Yami smirked, "If I win, you won't attack Joey again, nor will you attack his sister or anyone else to get to him. Nor will you get others to do so for you. If you do, you'll pay the price."

"I'm so scared." That was certainly sarcastic enough. "Are we playing or are you talking me into defeat?"

Yami waved a hand and the game pieces appeared out of nowhere. A set of twelve balls, all of whom looked like a master ball.

"What are you playing at?" Mercury asked, amused.

"We have to pick from these balls, one at the time. Five of them explode." Yami warned, "A weak charge that will knock you down. Once it explodes, it will reset, it will be up to you to remember which ones explode. If you pick three exploding balls, you lose. The first one to four regular balls wins."

"Rather simple." Mercury snorted. "And here I expected something complicated from the King of Games."

"Admittedly I would prefer a challenge." Yami taunted, "But as you said, I don't play your game and you don't play mine." Mercury just growled at him. "Would you like to pick the first ball?"

"Fine." Mercury stepped forward, "Let the game begin."

**LINE RECOGNITION HAS GONE AGAIN**

Jamie opened her eyes to find that she was in a hospital bed with no memory of how she'd gotten there or what had happened to put her there in the first place.

Bakura was sat in a chair at the side of her bed and watched as she sat up slowly, "How you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a Rhyhorn." Jamie murmured, "What happened?"

"You got knocked out of the air. Flygon saved you."

"Oh..." Jamie's confused look worried her friend. "Did I break anything?" She asked, looking herself over and certain everything was working right.

"I don't think so. The doctors took X-Rays, we'll know soon." Bakura shrugged, "Jay, what do you remember last?"

Sapphire eyes blinked at him for the nickname, then thought back. "Last thing I remember, I was talking to Mai about the journey we're going on."

"You don't remember the fight?" Bakura asked, wondering how much access this Jamie had to the midnight blue eyed one's memories.

Sapphire blinked, bit her lower lip and shook her head. "No..."

"It's ok." Bakura reassured her, thinking quickly, "It's probably the shock."

"'Kura, what happened?" Jamie asked, worried, "Did Joey get to hospital safely?"

Bakura let out a frustrated breath, worrying Jamie, before he started. "Well, first thing first. Mai's keeping Staravia. She's calling it Gale."

Jamie nodded, "Staravia, the Starling Pokémon, comes from Sinnoh originally, they're dual type normal and flying type Pokémon, they maintain huge flocks but are very territorial."

Bakura frowned for a moment, before realising this way Jamie's way of testing her memory to check she hadn't lost any other information, other than the fight. "You approve?"

"Gale huh?" Jamie nodded, "Good name. What else has happened?"

"Joey fought Mercury and won."

"Joey shouldn't have been fighting anyone in his condition!" Jamie protested, "Why didn't I fight Mercury?"

"You were too busy with the Grunts." Bakura shrugged her protest off, "Besides, Mercury had Wheeler's sister and was trying to take Dialga. Wheeler wouldn't let the Pharaoh fight her either."

"Is he alright?"

"He's still in surgery, we won't know until they've fixed all the damage." Bakura replied.

"And Mercury?" Jamie asked quietly.

"Didn't accept defeat. She tried to attack Wheeler afterwards and the Pharaoh pulled her into a Shadow Game. I doubt she'll be hurting anyone any time soon."

"Is that confidence in the Pharaoh I hear?" Jamie teased.

"I may not like him, but he doesn't lose fair games." Bakura shrugged. "And you know as well as I do, a Shadow Game can be nothing but fair."

Jamie nodded, letting out a small sigh. Then her head shot up and she stared at Bakura. "Marik's here, isn't he?"

"Technically yes." Bakura replied.

"Technically?"

"The morgue counts as here."

"The morgue!" Jamie yelped, "You're not serious!"

"The helicopter got brought down by Galactic." Bakura explained, wondering if he should have been less blunt about it. "The pilot refused to land the copter and I'm betting they thought Wheeler was on board."

"Arceus..." Jamie breathed, lying back. "How many..."

"I don't know, I didn't ask." Bakura replied. "There has to be survivors. They wouldn't know what happened otherwise."

Silence fell for a few minutes as neither knew what to say.

"I should have..."

"You can't be everywhere, Jay." Bakura interrupted, "You weren't anywhere near Marik's helicopter, there's nothing you could have done."

"I should have sent Tsunami along."

"Should have, could have," Bakura snorted at her, "You're not responsible for their actions. You can't save everyone."

"But..."

"If the pilots had had the sense ours did, Galactic wouldn't have knocked the copter out of the skies, if anyone's at fault, its Galactic and the pilots, not yours."

Silence again, then... "If I was stronger..."

"I doubt even Dragons can learn how to be in two places at once." Bakura snorted.

"I should stay. Galactic will be back."

"You should go." Bakura disagreed. "Spread out the targets."

"I don't know..."

"You might be able to protect them another way," Bakura suggested, "I have a plan..."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Seto Kaiba had only one stop to make before he went home.

He'd gotten the limo to stop at Kaiba Corp, so he could deposit something in the vault at the company, the safest possible place for it.

Mokuba had wanted to know what he was planning to do with it and if Kaiba was honest with himself (which he normally wasn't when it came to things like this) he had no idea. He hadn't really thought much, when he'd picked it up, beyond getting the item off of his Dueling Platform.

It had been instinctively that he'd found himself cleaning the blade and putting the item back together and it hadn't been until after he'd lost to Yugi that he'd finally decided what he was going to do with it.

He didn't want another event like Battle City ruined and Mutou didn't need any more magic following him around, so before he returned to the mansion, to get the sleep he would need to finish completion of Competitor's Village, White Lightening Stadium and work on Kaiba Land all at the same time, Seto locked the Millennium Rod away in his vault, where, hopefully, it would rest until the building collapsed and that, if he had anything to say about it, wouldn't be for another five hundred years.

Only after it was securely in his vault, did Kaiba get his brother home safely and go to sleep.

There was a lot of work ahead of them...

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Yami watched Mercury carefully as the Galactic Admin picked her next ball.

She'd surprised him so far by playing fair, and it was proving to be an interesting game because of it. He was ahead at the moment, three regular balls and one exploder, to two regular and two exploding, but he couldn't and wouldn't trust her to keep inside the rules, not after her outburst when Joey had beaten her.

Yami growled slightly internally at the thought of his friend, who, hopefully, was in hospital by now, and had reopened his wounds, fighting to save his sister.

Mercury reached for a ball, hesitated slightly, then picked it up.

The power surrounding them shifted as the ball Mercury had picked up exploded and she went sprawling.

It was over.

"No..." Mercury whimpered as she sat up, disbelieving. "That can't be it... It can't be..."

"It's over. Hear my judgement." Yami said, as the Shadows started to disperse after swirling around Mercury, slowly fading away. "You will not attack Joey again. Nor will you go through anyone else to get to him or get another to attack him for you. You did not cheat so for now there is no Penalty, but consider those your bail conditions, break them and a Penalty will follow and it will be worse than anything you could imagine."

"What am I supposed to do?"Mercury demanded of him, "I can't go back to Galactic with those conditions hanging over my head! Not while Wheeler holds the Master Ball!"

"Then don't go back." Yami replied, sensing Yugi poke his head out the door, having sensed the game was over, the hikari freezing to listen to the conversation, "There are other jobs for Pokémon Trainers."

"You don't understand, you couldn't understand!" Mercury shouted, shaking her head, "Taking me out won't protect your friend. As long as he holds the Master Ball, he'll be in danger and when he's defeated, this world will fall and there will be nothing anyone can do about it, not even you, oh King of Games!" The last was sarcastic, "Galactic never stop until they have what they want. I got my most trusted Grunt to wipe the computers before she left, but it won't take that bitch long to find him and she and her human shaped Pokémon will come and kill your friend. Even if I could go back with those conditions hanging over me, I no longer have any control over events in Domino. At least I was willing to let him live..."

"I wouldn't let them..."

"You think you could stand up to an Awakened PKNE?" She snorted at the Pharaoh, "You've never seen anything like these freaks, there's six of them, all 'awakened' and all different types. You'd never win against all of them, no one can." She laughed bitterly, "You were right when you said it was over. You should have let me win."

"I don't lose. If your replacement comes after my friends, I will retaliate." Yami growled as the last of the Shadows dissipated, leaving the pair of them exposed to the world. "Galactic will not get what they desire as long as I stand."

"A dangerous pledge." Mercury snorted, unsurprised by the lack of Grunts hanging around, they had probably fled the moment Dialga had sent their Pokémon back in time, "One I don't believe you can keep."

"I keep my word."

Mercury snorted, amused, "Then I'll take my leave. As interesting as it would be to see you dare to fight the freaks, I'd rather live, thank you." She glanced towards one of the alleyways, where she spotted a grunt with long, black hair and glasses. "Now, excuse me, I need to hunt down the Pokémon your friend sent away."

She turned to leave.

"Mercury?" Mercury paused and turned to look at the King of Games. He looked younger, softer somehow, and purple eyes showed a surprising amount of concern considering everything she had done to his friend, "Where will you go?"

She paused to consider the teenager, "What does it matter to you?"

"This world... it can be cruel to those who are different." Yugi spoke from experience.

"Don't worry about me." Mercury responded by smirking slightly, "I can handle myself." She turned to leave again, "Bye, oh King." With that she waved and disappeared down the alleyway, the Grunt in tow. The other grunts having fled over half an hour ago.

"She doesn't deserve your concern, Yugi." Yugi turned around at the sound of Tristan's voice, to see Tristan and Tea had been waiting for him.

"Tristan..." Yugi murmured.

The other man just shrugged, still annoyed and wondering how Mercury had gotten off so lightly.

Tea watched Yugi carefully, unsurprised by Yugi's concern. The teen had always been innocent and he had always tried to look after everyone, it had, after all, been how he had become friends with Joey and Tristan in the first place.

He looked tired, emotions so mixed that even she, who could normally read Yugi like an open book, was having trouble reading him. "Did Joey get to the hospital?" Yugi asked quietly.

"The helicopter pilots took him." Tristan nodded, "So I assume so."

"Good." Yugi nodded but said little else.

Tea worked out what it was that was worrying her. For the first time since Duelist Kingdom, Yugi looked like he didn't know what to do.

"Come on." Tea grabbed his arm and started pulling the un-protesting King of Games by the arm, "Let's go to the hospital."

"No..." Yugi shook his head, but the protest was only half-hearted.

"Why?" She asked softly, noting that Tristan was following, keeping an eye out for any Grunts.

"He won't want to see me." It was almost a whisper.

"Do I have to knock some sense into that thick skull of yours?" Tristan demanded, shocking Tea by grabbing Yugi by the collar and lifting the teen off the ground. "He took a dagger for you; do you honestly think he'd want you to stay away while he's recovering?"

When Yugi just looked away, guilt coursing through him, Tristan growled and dropped the teen.

"Fine. Do what you want. I'll be at the hospital if you decide to come." He stalked off.

"Tristan!" Tea protested, moving between Yugi, who hadn't moved from where he'd landed, and Tristan, who just carried on walking. She sighed and turned to look at Yugi, kneeling down when she saw tears flowing from the teen, taking him into her arms and hugging him tightly.

"It'll be alright." She murmured, knowing that everything was starting to catch up with him. The day had been one shock after another for all of them; she understood too well what he was going through.

She wasn't sure how long had passed before Yugi was finally calm enough to help to his feet. "Come on." She tugged on his hand and Yugi started moving without protest. "Joey needs us."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Mai was going through the stuff in her car while she waited for news.

She didn't actually need to buy as much as she'd thought she would. She had a tent, a small, two man, thing that would work well enough, and she had a decent supply of camping equipment; gas stove, matches, cool box, though she wasn't sure that would be much help considering that they would have to lug it with them, torch, sleeping bag, though that needed replacing...

She'd need a bigger backpack too, it she wanted to get everything in it...

How did Jamie do it? Get everything into that backpack of hers? It was a trick she was going to have to learn and learn quickly.

"Hey."

Mai turned around to find Jamie had spotted her in the car park and come over to speak with her, Bakura patiently waiting to one side, far enough away that he couldn't hear the conversation, but close enough that he was here if he was needed.

"Jamie? You're ok?" Relief coursed through Mai. If Jamie had been discharged already, then that fall hadn't injured her badly.

"A few bruises, but nothing that concerns the Doctors, I'm fit to travel tomorrow. Are you alright? I heard you were in your first Pokémon battle."

"I used Staravia, you don't mind, do you?" Mai asked, unsure if she had done something wrong.

"No, no," Jamie laughed, "If anything I'm glad you worked well enough with him that you're willing to take him on. I mean, you've already nicknamed him. It makes tomorrow a bit easier."

Mai nodded slightly, "We might be able to leave a little earlier than I expected too," The blonde sighed, "I have more up together then I thought. Some food, and a new sleeping bag and I'll be ready to go."

"Good. I'm just waiting on news about Joey. I have no doubt Yugi will... what?" She asked when Mai flinched. "You don't agree with the challenge." It wasn't a question, but a statement laced with confusion. "Because of Marik?"

"Because of Marik." Mai agreed.

Jamie just let out a soft sigh, not going to tell her she was in the wrong with what she knew of the Shadow Realm and the horrors that could rest there, but not going to agree with her, when, if Bakura was right, the game had been the only option available. "Mai, I need to talk with you, regarding the Master Ball."

"Go on."

"Galactic want it, Joey has it. I want to take it but I need your permission."

Mai's eyes widened at that. "My permission?"

"If I take the Master Ball with me, Joey will be safe." Jamie explained, "But we won't. If I take the Master Ball, we'll be hunted; we'll have to fight Grunts regularly. It'll be good training, but it won't be easy. I have a few Pokeballs, not many but enough for three apiece, so we could train any Pokémon we caught that way... there's pluses and minuses to the situation."

"Could we win? Against the Grunts?"

"Aisu can take three or four at a time, I'm sure it wouldn't take long for Gale to be able to take at least one or two if we trained, carefully of course..."

"And it would keep them away from Joey?"

"Hopefully."

Mai watched the Trainer carefully. There was something the girl was hiding.

Bakura's head turned sharply, as if he'd heard something, and glowered down the road, having spotted Tristan.

"Take it." Mai nodded, "I'll back you up if you need it."

"Thanks, Mai." Jamie nodded.

Tristan stomped past, entering the hospital.

"The game must be over." Jamie sighed.

"I have to learn the rules to a whole new one now." Mai nodded, not looking up.

"It's not hard, I'll teach you as we go along." Jamie chuckled. "If I can learn the rules of your game, I'm sure you can learn the rules of mine."

"We shall see."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"It's done, Mercury-sama." Nanoha Miko told her commander as they walked away from Mutou into the darkness. "Their efforts should be frustrated for some time. I uploaded a virus to the mainframe as well that should erase the virtual security logs, but I couldn't get at the hardcopy – It won't be long before they figure out who wiped the hard drives." She didn't smile. They were both in trouble, she realised, and her friends might not be able to help this time... At least Mokuba-kun's virus had hopefully done its job.

"Thank you, Nanoha-chan." Mercury nodded at her.

"What... now, Mercury-sama? You can't go to Paradius... They'll just hand you back over..." Miko worried.

"I'm going to have to... disappear for a while." Mercury agreed with a small sigh. "I'm not sure where I'm going to go. Travelling, probably..."

"I might be able to help." Miko admitted, frowning. "I've made... a few allies of my own." She smiled a little, finally. "Mercury-sama... Not all of my information comes from my bugs." She paused, biting her lip. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. But she'd started, now. "If... no... I'm fairly certain that one of the people I know can help you disappear. Convincing them to help you is the hard part..."

"You're dithering, Nanoha-chan." Mercury told her, not completely unkindly.

"Ah! S-sorry." Miko squeaked, "I just... made friends with Mokuba Kaiba during the tournament... I thought he might be useful..."

"..." Mercury stopped walking to stare at her grunt, who flushed and looked away, fidgeting. "H... y..." She tried, then shook her head. "Nanoha Miko, how exactly did you manage that? Doesn't he know you're with us?"

"H.. He knows." She admitted, trying not to mumble. "I... fed him a little information... nothing sensitive!" She assured her mistress, "mostly about Pokémon and our goals... he... isn't entirely opposed to our ideology..."

"I see," Mercury frowned, "And you think he'd be willing to help? His brother's company have the resources..."

"I'm fairly sure," Miko nodded, "Since you're effectively defecting... you might have to give him something in return though." She smiled, a little. "To engender a little faith..."

"Thank you..." Mercury returned the smile, then hugged the smaller girl, making her squeak in surprise and go stiff. "You're a good girl, Nanoha-chan. I don't know how you got mixed up with the Team, but I'm glad you joined us. People like you give me faith that the New World is a possibility. Maniacs like Mars..." she paused, letting the grunt go and starting to walk again as she spoke, "if I had my way, Team Galactic would have no place for that kind of person. I suppose we need her, though, or we would have been destroyed before reaching even this point in our plans." Mercury sighed.

"There are no necessary evils, Mercury-sama." Miko told her. "Only evils that we tell ourselves we must go through because we're too weak to see another way..." She trailed off, looking down.

"Perhaps." Mercury nodded, sighing. She stopped as Miko did, then watched as the smaller girl stepped into a phone booth and dialled a number from memory. Mercury waited while Miko spoke in a soft tone, nodding and listening, before hanging up.

"Mokuba-kun is coming. You should hide in case he decides helping you is more trouble than it's worth." Miko told her mistress, who nodded and stepped back into the shadows of an alleyway. Miko leaned against the inside of the phone box, waiting patiently.

The younger Kaiba arrived a little over half an hour later in a black limousine with two black-suited bodyguards.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

They were gathered in the waiting area, had been all night, all seven of them.

Tristan was pacing irritably, unable to sit still, needing to do something to unleash his restless energy.

Tea was sat, hugging Serenity, who needed all the reassurance she could get and had been a bit lost until the others had gotten to the hospital.

Yugi was just sat limply in a chair, all the confidence gone, just a scared teen who was worried about his best friend.

Mai was here too, leaning against the wall, thinking, having decided to stick around because of her debt to Joey and the fact Yugi had let Mercury walk away without trapping her mind in some tortuous illusion.

Jamie was led back on a couple of chairs, flicking through information on her Pokedex, making plans and thinking about training patterns for her and her friend.

And finally Solomon, who had come the moment Yugi had phoned the shop and had offered comfort to the six teens, even as he had wondered what they had gotten into and if it was too late for them to get back out again.

They'd been sat here for what felt like days, but had, in fact only been two hours now, just waiting. The Doctors had said that they'd tell them the moment Joey was out of surgery, were legally obligated to, since Solomon was down as Joey's next of kin, had been for the last couple of years, so there was little they could do but wait.

The door opened and everyone turned to look, wondering if it had been a false start, as it had been a couple of times this evening.

"Mr Muto?" The doctor asked. "Miss Wheeler?"

"That's us." Solomon said as he and Serenity stood up. "How is Joey?"

"It will take a couple of months," The Doctor said, "But he will make a full recovery."

The noise was enough to cause Security to come running as the group let out a cheer.

"When can we see him?" Solomon asked.

"He's sleeping off the anaesthetic." The Doctor, who paused in shooing the security away in order to talk, "But he should be awake in an hour or so. You can see him when visiting hours start tomorrow." He smiled at them, "Your friend was a very lucky man."

"He normally is, Doc." Tristan replied, relief coursing through him, "He normally is."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

The final fall of the League left the people of Jamie's world with no sympathetic parties.

Many League aligned Trainers were already gone, had been taken out already or were in hiding until they could make their move, all Galactic aligned ones took great pleasure in doing whatever they wanted, at any time they wanted, any where they wanted, and the neutral ones had already released their Pokémon, not considering the problems that they could face to be worth it.

There were cities that envied those cities who had been Rended, seeing their disappearance as freedom from the rule of Galactic.

Stories were all that people had to stop them falling into despair, stories of those who had fought great battles and won, of the Legendary Pokémon coming down to Earth or rising from the ocean bed and fighting great battles and saving lives, and stories of the Trainers who were fighting Galactic on a regular basis and winning.

There were stores too that had leaked through the ranks of Galactic and out to the general public, of battles in the Otherworld, where good fought evil and Galactic was unable win a battle.

No one knew where these stories came from, obviously it was from one of the Grunts who made regular reports across dimensions, but the tales of a Champion, banished from her own world but fighting to save it none the less, with the help of a King, who had taken her in, a Knight, who had taken up Pokémon training in order to fight at her side and a Thief who was stealing Pokémon from Team Galactic and sending them to a Day Care for rehabilitation, were spreading like wildfire, giving hope to those who had little left, that maybe, just maybe, the Champion would find her way home and put a stop to Galactic's plans.

It was the stuff of fairy tales, but with the way Galactic were crushing anyone who spread the tales, people were willing to believe in them, if only to have a few moments of hope, hope that allowed people to fight.

If the Knight could fight Team Galactic and win and he had only been training Pokémon a few weeks, then those League Trainers, now considered Rebels, left across the world felt that they had that much more of a chance. After all, anything some Otherworld Trainer could do, they could do better.

Normal, human Trainers were fighting back, attacking Galactic bases, saving captured Trainers, freeing places.

The victories were all too often short lived, but it was something.

Victory in one place, led to hope, which led to more fighting, which led to more wins...

It was a slow start, but it was a start none the less.

The key to the situation was Palkia. If they could free Palkia from Galactic's control, the Team's plans would fold and the fear that held a large part of the population prisoner would dissipate.

The longer the stories came, the greater the hope and the longer people would fight.

No one knew if it would be enough, it was impossible to know, but hope had started to bloom and the will to survive was strong.

The Pokémon World was turning.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

The next morning, Serenity returned from getting something to drink to find Jamie hovering outside her brother's private room, which had been funded, of course, by Kaiba Corp, in an effort to get some good publicity after the attack by Marik had been broadcast around the world.

"You can go in, you know." Serenity said, surprised the Trainer hadn't already done so.

Jamie shook her head, "Yugi and Joey are talking. I don't want to disturb them." The Trainer shrugged, "Plus I need to speak to Joey privately."

"You don't trust Yugi?" Serenity looked surprised.

"I trust Yugi, but this isn't his fight. It's not supposed to be Joey's but he's involved now." Jamie looked ashamed of this fact.

"He won't blame you." Serenity glanced in the window when her brother's muffled voice, obviously raised since they hadn't heard it moments ago, filtered through the door.

"Poor Yugi." Jamie bit her lip.

Serenity turned sharply and shook her head, "Joey's been wanting to talk to Yugi for hours. He's not annoyed at Yugi for the attack, or he wasn't..."

Joey's voice slipped below the audible level again and Serenity turned to look through the window again, only to get waved in by her brother.

Jamie would have hidden around the corner, but Serenity had opened the door before she could move out of sight, and as such she got invited in.

"I was worried I wouldn't see you before you left." Joey said with a calm that he hadn't had moments ago.

Jamie glanced at Yugi, who looked like he wasn't quite sure what had just happened and was glad for the interruption.

"How you feeling?" Jamie asked.

"Like a pin cushion." Joey snorted, "And I'm hungry. The food is horrible. You alright? I heard Galactic put you in here."

"Self inflicted bruising actually." Jamie chuckled, "I knocked myself off my Charizard." She paused, "Oh, here." She passed Iblis's Pokeball over. "Word of advice, be careful with Blast Burn."

Joey snorted, "I'll make a note of that." He commented as he took the ball and added it to his growing pile of Pokeballs. He took a proper look at her, "What's wrong?"

"I wanted to talk before I left," Jamie sighed, "Privately."

"I'll..." Yugi stood up.

"No." Joey shook his head, "You leave, you're not coming back and I'm in no fit state to chase you down." Joey growled at Yugi before turning back to Jamie, "Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of Yugi."

Jamie frowned slightly and shut the door, "What we discuss stays in this room, ok?"

Serenity, Joey and Yugi nodded.

"All right, here's what I wanted to say..."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

Mars was fuming.

Snow had been at it all night and she still hadn't been able to access the lost data. Whatever virus had been put in the system had done an effective job of wiping everything on the system, including the back up copies, leaving Mars and her squad with nothing to do but to start from scratch with whatever they could glean from paper copies and cds.

Oracle and Venom had been dealing with the Grunts who had gone AWOL all night too. All of them claimed to have seen Dialga, claimed to have lost their Pokémon to Roar of Time, but none had given up who had the Temporal Pokémon.

They had admitted that the Aspiring Champion had been involved in a huge fight at the docks, and the pair of PKNEs had gone down to the docks, only to find the place busy with workers, builders who were repairing a warehouse that had been crushed, and reporters who were trying to get details.

It was like Dialga and the Aspiring Champion had just vanished off of the map completely.

As had Mercury, who had gone out last night and, apparently gotten into a battle and disappeared in a ball of darkness.

However, Flame had been going over the hard copies of the security cameras from last night, and he had come up with something interesting.

It had been Nanoha Miko, Snow's old Grunt, from back when she'd been playing Phobos, the one Mars had suspected was PKNE 17, or Bug, Positive only to have been proved wrong during a medical exam, who had planted the virus and wiped the hard drives, leaving Mars in the position she was in.

Oracle had promised that she would bring Miko in, except that she too had vanished off the radar completely, just like her leader.

Someone had to be helping them but they couldn't know who and until they could track down the four, they would have to pull everything together.

Then A.C. came back, having gone out to explore the town and he had news.

The Day Care Centre was buzzing with the news that Francis had deposited her Pokémon there and was leaving, or had left town, with a friend she'd met during Battle City. No one was quite sure if the Trainer had gone yet.

Suspicious of anyone asking too many questions, they had asked A.C. what his story was and he had claimed that he had been a victim of Galactic and been sent through a Rend, landing up north. He had heard about Pokémon in the area and headed down. He'd even taken a job application, figuring that since Francis was here regularly, then those who worked there would give them more information if he was an insider.

Mars, of course, loved it, praising him for ingenuity.

It was the perfect way to scope information about how the company that dealt with the Pokémon incursions worked and what the Aspiring Champion was doing.

It would also allow them to find out who, among Francis's Trainers, held the Master Ball.

Two problems down, two to deal with.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"I love bungee cords." Jamie grinned as she fastened her Duel Disk onto her backpack using an octopus bungee cord, "I don't know why I never discovered something like this before."

"Because you never needed to lug a huge piece of equipment across a country before?" Mai offered, having already fastened her Duel Disk and her sleeping bag, inside a waterproof bag, of course, to the bag with the aforementioned cords.

It was a daft idea, taking their Duel Disks. The things were too unwieldy to carry easily, didn't fit inside their bags and weren't a shape that would allow them to worn without getting in the way the majority of the time, but Yugi had made a valid point when he had said that they may require it at some point if Mai was challenged, after all she was a World Class Duelist, or they came across any more Duelists with magic in their travels.

Even strapped to their backpacks like this, it was weight they could ill afford, but it wouldn't be easy to get their hands on another one if they left them behind so...

"Done." Jamie said, standing up and testing the weight of her backpack, trying to ignore the fact her belt felt light, with only Aisu's ball and the Master Ball attached to it, and while her deck pouch was attached to the other side, Jamie felt like she'd had her options cut by two thirds. She hadn't travelled with less than six Pokémon in over a year and it kind of felt like she was starting over.

Maybe, in a way, she was. After all, it was a whole new world out there to explore and she was taking her first real steps into it.

She just wished it didn't feel like she was abandoning her old partners in order to find new ones.

That wasn't why she was travelling. She was leaving to help those who had been less fortunate then her in their landing place, or who had run into problems with wild Pokémon or... there were many reasons, taking the Master Ball far away from where Team Galactic were operating was just a bonus.

But she couldn't help feeling like she was running away, even though it was a necessary trip, especially after what Yugi had told her about the new Galactic Admin and her team.

She had to leave the majority of her squad behind, to give Joey and whoever was given the Day Care Leader position next, the extra firepower they would need to protect Domino, to protect the Pokémon who lived at the Centre and to protect themselves.

"Ready?" Mai asked, having already handed the car over, packed her bags, said goodbye to Joey and fed Gale.

Jamie looked over at Aisu, who had finished her meal and was looking at Jamie impatiently.

"I think so."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"It's time..." Mercury murmured. They were in the departure lounge at Domino airport less than twenty-four hours after Mercury's battle with Mutou. Mercury had bleached her hair and padded her bra – combined with the KC uniform she was now wearing; she could easily have passed for Jamelia Frances' older sibling as her passport claimed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know they were coming... we could have prepared something..." Miko told her quietly, as they stood beneath the departure board, the younger girl wearing the casual clothes and green gillet she'd once worn as a Ranger. "I just..." She trailed off, feeling that something had to be said before it was too late, but not knowing what.

"It's not your fault." Mercury told her, trying to raise her spirits a little. "They probably came straight through a Rend to the arena. You aren't as weak as you think." She paused, before opening one of the pouches on her belt and pulling out a leather thong with a small, green pendant hanging from it.

"Mercury-sama? Isn't that..?" Miko blinked, then stared at the gem.

"The stone from Paradius," Mercury confirmed. "It... wouldn't be accurate to call it the source of my power any more, but when I first arrived... before I learned the rules for myself... it was a great equaliser. It's also a badge of office of sorts..."

"While you carry it, it marks you as an agent of Paradius..." Miko nodded, remembering. "Dartz-san said that while you carry the stone, you will be protected from his magic..."

"Yes." Mercury nodded. "I've learned enough of Shadow Magic now to protect myself, but you... you don't have that distinction, and I can't protect you anymore." She unwound the cord. "Nanoha-chan... I have a last mission for you."

"Of... of course, Mercury-sama!" Miko nodded, taken off guard.

"Go to Paradius, become Dartz's minion. Serve him as you have me and he won't sense anything suspicious." Mercury told her, putting the stone around the shorter girl's neck and dropping the pendant down the front of her polo shirt. The stone glowed softly for a moment, then went dark again, "The stone will guide you. Tell him you felt it calling you and took it from me."

"Yes, Mercury-sama." Miko nodded, swallowing nervously. "What would you have me do..?"

"Become strong, Nanoha-chan." Mercury smiled, a little sadly. "Do what you must... survive in an unsightly way..." She stroked her junior's hair, gently. "Become ready for when I return. We still have time... we will achieve the New World... with, or without, Cyrus and Mars' thugs."

"I will. Mercury-sama..."

"Rio." Mercury told her, making her stop. "Call me Rio, now. Mercury... isn't a role I can play any longer, so use my name." She smiled.

"Yes, Rio-sama." Miko nodded, finally, and smiled at her. "Good luck."

"You too, Nanoha-chan." Rio 'Francis' smiled. "Stay safe."

Miko replied with an ironic smile, and Mercury – Rio – picked up her carry-on bag before heading into the depths of the airport. Miko went back to scanning the departures board, watching for her own flight to the US.

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

"So when are we going to see you next?" Tea asked, hugging Jamie and Mai in turn before moving away to let the boys shake the hands of the women who were leaving.

Jamie shrugged, "I don't..."

"Christmas." Mai interrupted, surprising Jamie, who looked at her travelling partner, "I promised Joey I'd visit at Christmas."

"Christmas then." Jamie smiled slightly, giving Mai a knowing look, and getting flipped off in response, "We'll come back for Christmas."

"You both have my phone number, in case something happens, right?" Tea asked, worrying.

"Your number, Yugi's number, the emergency services numbers..." Jamie smiled, "Don't worry Tea. I know what I'm doing. I've been doing this for years."

"I know, I know but..." Tea glowered at her when Jamie let out an amused giggle. "I just..."

"Just think, Tea, Pokémon Trainers have been doing this for centuries, and surviving, and they didn't have all the modern day stuff you're used to." Jamie teased. "If anything I should be worried about you guys, you get into so much trouble, I'm expecting to come back to find the city in ruins."

"We're not that bad!" Yugi protested, finally drawn into the conversation.

"Yet." Jamie sniggered, making Mai smile slightly, "Please get some Pokémon, I'd feel better about your safety if you did."

"I'll see." Tristan shrugged.

"Maybe." Tea allowed, "Depends on my parents."

"I will." Yugi nodded, having already decided that he needed one in case he had to back Joey up again and because Bakura already had two.

Speaking of the Tomb Robber, he was notable by his absence and Yugi knew why.

Yami was not comfortable with the Tomb Robber being a part of the Master Ball plan, but the Pharaoh was an outsider in the plan, included only because Joey had wanted him to be so it wasn't his choice and he had to put up or shut up (Jamie had actually phrased it in those exact words).

"Good. Shall we then Mai?" Jamie asked, nodding towards the open road, having never been good at long goodbyes.

Mai nodded, ready when Jamie was, "See you at Christmas, guys."

"We'll keep in touch." Jamie promised, "See you later."

"Bye." Tristan nodded, no better than Mai and Jamie at goodbyes.

Tea sniffed slightly, "Be careful, ok?"

"We will. Well, as careful as we get, right Jamie?" Mai promised.

"Of course." Jamie nodded, "I will be as careful as I can be."

Tea just rolled her eyes, knowing she and Jamie had different standards of careful.

"Come on Jamie, the sooner we go, the sooner we'll see everyone again." Mai commented.

"You're right, plus we need to get going it we want to hit that campsite before nightfall." Jamie nodded, "Alright, later guys."

The pair of them left.

Tea, Tristan and Yugi watched until they'd vanished around the corner, then they started heading for home.

It felt odd to the trio that, after weeks of insanity, some level of normality could sink back in again, but the world didn't stop, just because Mai and Jamie had gone travelling and Joey was in hospital.

Life went on and they had their own paths to follow, including a certain person's destiny which had yet to be fulfilled.

Yami hadn't gotten the answers he'd been promised from Battle City, but it wasn't really over yet, he still had one fight left.

He didn't expect any answers from the final battle, but he was looking forward to Joey coming out of hospital.

The finals of Battle City were being delayed, but the duel to come was one that Yami had been looking forward to since the end of Duelist Kingdom.

Yugi Mutou verses Joey Wheeler.

It was going to be the best duel they'd ever fought...

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

It had been three months since the 'official' end of Battle City but the Day Care Centre was packed for the finals, which had been willingly delayed by both finalists until Joey Wheeler had fully recovered from the injuries he had sustained at the hands of Marik Ishtar.

"You're late, Yuge." Joey, who was now Day Care Leader, thanks to a recent promotion, chuckled at his friend, who had gotten here as quickly as he could after school.

"Not all of us practically live here, Joey." Yugi grinned back, having been looking forward to this for months and amused by the crowds.

Someone had obviously leaked the information that Yugi and Joey had agreed to battle today.

"You ready?" Joey asked, offering his deck to Yugi to shuffle and cut it and accepting Yugi's in exchange.

"Of course." Yami smirked back, shuffling, cutting and returning Joey's deck. "You can go first."

Joey nodded, then the pair of them took their places, activated their Duel Disks and drew their first hands.

The pair smirked at each other across the Day Care, "Let's Duel."

**LINE_RECOGNITION_HAS_GONE_AGAIN**

**Author Note: - And that's it. Please follow Day Care of Domino. There will be chapters going up there that link this one and the next story, plus I'll put alerts in the Author Notes on the chapters when I post the next stories.**


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